Eat, Sleep, Fight, Repeat
by Loki God of Evil
Summary: On HIATUS
1. What happened?

The day was humid but sunny as Ninjago had just been coming out of the rainy season. Jay and Kai were bored of being on the Bounty training day and night with no bad guys to deal with, life was ok but pretty dull and tensions were rising.

Jay, had suggested an outing. He asked cheekily, he was quite repetitive but it had the desired effect. He was only asking for his brothers to have a day off from training and sensei Wu had begrudgingly agreed.

The guys took it upon themselves to go to the mall and the cinema to watch the new Fritz Donigan movie that Jay had been going on about incessantly for the past week. Cole finally caved in and agreed as long as a trip to the cupcake shop could be arranged before and after the cinema trip.

* * *

"Hey this is great guys, you gotta love the sun, the warmth ahh the freedom, I was getting pretty antsy with all this rain and sheesh I'm supposed to love it what with being the elemental master of lightning hahahahahaha, so did ya like the movie? omg I thought it was aweesome, Fritz is amaaaazing" Jay added finally taking a breath "so where to now?".

Kai spoke before Cole had a chance to and motioned towards the cupcake shop that was two blocks away from their current location, "wow take a breath zaptrap", Kai chuckled "Cole wants another cake remember".

Zane decided it would be a good time to calculate how much time it would take to walk to the shop instead of catching a taxi. "My calculations tell me that it should take no more than four minutes and 32 seconds to reach our destination then a further three minutes for Cole to successfully choose a cake before we can notify Nya that we will be returning."

"Heh, impressive, let's just see first. They might have specials on offer and that could throw off your calculations." Kai snickered from nearby.

"Thanks Zane, no pressure then? What if there's red velvet cake or chocolate fudge, how am I supposed to make a huge decision in such a short amount of time?" Cole complained with a hint of sarcasm.

The off duty ninja made their way to the cupcake shop, Jay was casually checking his watch every few minutes unaware of the large group of serpentine emerging a block away. None of the Ninja noticed until they were completely surrounded.

* * *

 _Time jump_

Kai was being bandaged in one of the many beds in the emergency room at New Ninjago hospital, after receiving a nasty laceration to his upper arm and minor contusions to his head during the most recent attack on himself and his fellow brothers. Jay was in another bed also in the ER however he wasn't doing as well.

The trauma nurse shouted none too quietly to her team of nurses surrounding his bed. "He's losing blood, blood pressure is very low!"

It seemed like Jay was losing his battle with his injuries and fast. The charge nurse relayed a message to the team and motioned the need to get him to resus and intubate for emergency OR.

The consultant hollered "We need his blood group crossmatched asap and his next of kin need contacting."

"On it!" Another staff member chimed in.

Kai could hear all the commotion like it was taking place in his own cubicle. They were only separated by thin curtains. Being in the hospital emergency area carried no privacy at all he thought.

He lay there in semi quiet contemplation, willing his brother to fight. He had no idea of his injuries, he didn't understand the lingo they used yet he knew that Jay's injuries seemed too severe and from what he could hear he assumed Jay's body was failing...but why?

That was when they wheeled Jay away from the ward and Kai could do no more except worry and wait.

Cole was in a treatment room undergoing minor stitches and dressings to multiple lacerations on his forearms from the multitude of glass and metal splinters embedded in his skin...Cole had to hold back the fear he was feeling at this point, he knew he couldn't show that he was unsure or that he didn't know what to do anymore, he felt weak and this attack on the ninja had been unprovoked but he needed to know why.

He pushed his inner turmoil and anxieties to the side and concentrated all his effort on getting through these next few minutes of stitches and then he could think of a plan of action to get his brothers back fighting fit again and whup those serpentine into the next millenia.

His first job was to phone Sensei Wu and Nya who were currently residing on the Destiny's Bounty (the famous hero's sanctuary and home), according to Nya they were 45 minutes away from the hospital so he would have to wait it out or maybe not...

"I'll go and check on my brothers, see if we can get out of here and find and what the heck kicked off downtown... _plus I need some comfort cake food and I didn't get my second cake_ he thought to himself.

Zane seemed to be the only one of the brothers who was relatively unscathed during the battle that took place, the explosion merely dented his back panels and fried a few circuits; namely his humour and colour display circuit. During his down time he remotely accessed the Bounty's server and security systems to upload his fellow ninjas beacons, he was relieved to see all beacons glowing, however he frowned when none of the beacons were lit with the correct colour or any colour for that matter.

Because of the attack and subsequent explosion his colour display was now only showing black, grey and white...Zane was making a mental note to himself that this issue would need to be repaired quickly as it was annoying almost as annoying as the pirate voice, but a sixth sense in him couldn't get away from the feeling that something was wrong.

* * *

Lloyd was nursing a minor head injury and was in the infirmary on the Bounty, he chose to stay behind at the scene to make sure his brothers were all on their way to the hospital, well except for Zane who was accompanying his unconscious team mates. Lloyd decided against the hospital and contacted the Bounty who were very close by, once aboard the Bounty he was under the care of his mother Misako with Nya assisting.

He needed a few stitches on the top right of his forehead where sharp glass had lacerated his scalp and turned his platinum blond hair to a horrid red matted mess on one side but Lloyd didn't feel like this little injury warranted a stay in Ninjago hospital...truth be told he didn't really like hospitals...it was the smell and the un-natural lighting but mostly the smell.

Sensei Wu and Misako were trying to understand what actually caused the explosion and needed to run some security footage on the Bounty to find out what happened so naturally Nya was called upon once she had checked Lloyd and swapped places with Misako.

Nya was needed in the control room where she had to painstakingly repair certain parts of the security system as something had short circuited the computer on-board which made this security footage much more difficult to piece together and decipher.

Nya shouted enthusiastically "Guys I've finally managed to repair the playback on the security footage, do you want to watch and see if this works?"

Wu replied with a calm yes and Lloyd and Misako were eager to find out what had happened.

Misako stated "it seems that the ninja were almost successful in this attack which they were unprepared for against the Sepentine so what happened?".

As they all looked at the screen in front of them they saw a massive electrical explosion which appeared to come from Jay and in doing so the force of the explosion sent all of the ninja into various buildings causing damage to themselves and their surroundings.

Misako, Wu, Lloyd and Nya all looked on in confusion and worry. Nya replayed the clip in slow motion, there was no sound from the footage but it looked tense, yet the ninja appeared calm.

Nya suddenly sqeaked at the footage and noticed two of the Serpentine generals pointing something in Jay's general direction one seemed like a standard gun, athough not exactly a weapon of choice to bring to a hand to hand combative fight...Nya thought to herself.

With a sickening grin one general pulled the trigger of the rudimentary gun and shortly after the other general pressed a button on their handheld device, within a millisecond the explosion was on screen again. The generals had been lucky to escape unharmed they had no idea how powerful this weapon was until now, however many of their tribes had lost warriors not many of them but enough.

"It would appear as if the ninja were targeted on purpose" Misako said.

Nya bit her lip she wanted to shout and scream at what she had just witnessed but chose to remain quiet, she muttered under her breath instead "at least they got some of their own in this cowardly attack".

Nya had left the room, visibly upset by seeing her brothers needlessly injured in this unprovoked attack especially her brother Kai and her best match Cole or was it Jay? "silly Nya", she scolded herself _now is not the time_.

Lloyd immediately offered to go on a mission to find out what this device was and if there were traces of it at the site of the explosion which they could attempt to research. He wanted to go undercover and see if there were other devices that the snakes were planning on using.

Misako insisted they try and find some answers later and stated "right now we need the ninja, they are vulnerable in their current state and they will be safer here". We've just received a phone call from Cole, he's at the hospital and we'll be arriving within 45 minutes" Wu stated and further admonished the green ninja from putting himself in danger, "we need to stick together now more than ever Lloyd; my students, your brothers have been attacked and we need to know why? "Misako sorrowfully added "they could be planning on something bigger we just don't know yet".

"Lloyd, shall we call in at the hospital to see our brothers?" Nya said nervously to clear the tension, Lloyd answered with a distinct shaky voice "sure...n-now?".

"You don't like hospitals much do you?" Nya jokingly teased "what is it about them you don't like?" She quickly wiped a rogue tear away from her face before Lloyd noticed, "come on lets go to the hospital and bring them home...

Lloyd solemnly thought to himself that this day was going to get worse


	2. So what now

Cole was pacing the hospital corridor after his treatment was finished, he had almost worn the floor tiles out in frustration.

"Hey err...excuse me...do you know where Jay Walker is?" Cole asked.

"Who are you?" the nurse questioned "are you a relative?

"I'm Cole Hence...Jay's my best friend", he added.

"I'm afraid I can only share details of Mr Walker with his immediate family"The nurse stated drylly.

Cole was infuriated, it took all of his strength to keep calm and not destroy the nursing station. "He's my brother" he said to himself ..."my best friend, what is so wrong that they can't tell me?" he hissed under his breath, slightly worried at what he was thinking.

"Come on Sensei I need you I can't do this on my own. Cole backed away from the nurses station and hastily went to look for Kai and Zane in the hope that they were ok and knew what the hell was happening. He saw Kai in a small curtained off area in the ER and waited until the nurse had finished.

Kai was being discharged with pain medication and dressings to take home, he had numerous stitches in 2 layers, ones that could dissolve and ones that would need removing "Now Mr Bilens we'll need to see you in 14 days to remove these stitches, an appointment has been made for you to attend our outpatient clinic" the nurse muttered.

Kai's response was automatic and without emotion "hmph yeah...ok Doc", he looked at Cole and raised an eyebrow which to Cole meant that Kai would do anything except stick to this appointment. The nurse promptly left to care for the rest of her patients and left Kai to get himself dressed.

"Damn it" Kai groaned not realising how hard it was to do this one handed his arm was still incredibly sore even with the morphine and he knocked it on the wall trying to put on his clothes, he sucked his breath in through his teeth as he rode out the wave of pain that came over him threatening a bout of nausea, _Just breathe Kai_ he thought.

Cole approached him after the nurse left and noticed how much difficulty Kai was having with his jeans and hoodie, he quickly came to help.

"Kai, you're ok, thank god, I've contacted Wu and Nya, they're en-route to our location in maybe 10 minutes or so".

"We need to get out of here, what the hell were they thinking attacking us like that in the city...? with civilians around too" Cole shouted.

"Cole, keep it down" Kai hissed still in visible pain.

"I don't know what happened but we have bigger things to deal with right now".

"What" Cole spat..."what does that mean? what could be bigger than having our asses whupped by serpentine in broad daylight...for no reason?, besides when I get my hands on Pythor he's dead, Skales too" Cole muttered. Kai could've sworn he felt the ground tremble when Cole had spoken to him.

 _Flashback Jay's POV_

"Great...snakes I love snakes" Jay said sarcastically as soon as he saw the huge group of serpentine surrounding his brothers. "What do we do guys? we don't have our weapons, this was supposed to be a trip to the mall, heck even Sensei doesn't know where we are and I'm supposed to be meeting Nya in an hour for a date. Omg we are soo totally hooped" Jay whined, he was nervous at the thought of this unarmed fight that was about to take place with no idea what the outcome could be, their only weapon...spinjitsu.

"Jay, pipe down" the earth ninja scolded, and then simultaneously raised an eyebrow at the 'date with Nya' remark,

"Don't let them see your weaknesses, it'll just make them stronger" he added.

"Great" Jay mumbled, "err guys what are they holding over there?".

Pythor spoke first "I've had enough off you ninja, messsssing around where you don't belong, too long you have thwarted my planssss for domination, that iss, until now" he hissed and chuckled evilly whilst aiming a weapon in the ninja's general direction, he then pulled the trigger of what looked to be a gun of some sort.

Before any of them could answer the question they all heard a loud bang from Pythor's direction and Jay felt a huge searing pain rip through his chest on his right side, he looked down momentarily to see a mass of scarlet appear on his clothes, although at first it looked black as he was wearing blue, but then came a feeling of heaviness, pain, weakness and profuse sweating followed by more pain.

"Ungh w..what...the...hell...guys, err w...what is this?" Jay whispered breathlessly as he struggled to speak, his brothers however could not hear, it was almost as it the wind had been knocked out of him. His world was spinning and he was beginning to see stars but he was still standing...just. He instinctively put his left hand on the rapidly expanding wet and warm area on his chest to ease the heavy feeling now residing in his chest and was horrified to see that when he removed his hand that it was now covered in blood...his blood dribbling slowly down his hand from the short time it had been pressed to his chest.

"Aww come on I love this top, you snakes have no idea how much these things cost", Jay whined to himself as his eyes stared to glaze over and he concentrated on keeping upright.

Skales was holding a strange looking weapon and mocked the ninja, "ha ha ha bye ninja" he swiftly pointed his bizarre looking weapon in Jay's direction and pressed it, within a second or two Jay's whole world crumbled into intense white hot pain followed by complete unconsciousness.

Before the explosion rocked the city, the ninja's last memory before waking up at the hospital was that of the loud bang and within three seconds the blast. Everything had happened so fast that couldn't piece together what exactly had happened.

* * *

Jay had come round briefly in the ambulance, or he thought he had, he had attempted to open his eyes but the pain was too much, that was until he felt like he was as light as a feather for some reason. He could hear distant voices surrounding him but his mind felt like it was miles away, he could hear everything but couldn't say anything.

"This is strange" Jay thought as he floated in the darkness.

"Where is everyone? or Nya aahhh lovely Nya" Jay was in what was considered a chemical coma, whilst the paramedics attempted to stabilise him and stem the blood flow that was issuing from his chest.

"Ninjago paramedics handing over a Mr J Walker, male approximate age 20, gunshot to the right chest area, possible internal bleeding, head injury, possible broken ribs and we are struggling to get his heart rhythm to stabilise, he is going into AF. He needs the resus trolley now..."


	3. Recovery

**Back at Ninjago hospital**

Jay was undergoing emergency surgery to remove the bullet that had ripped through his chest; the team of surgeon's had successfully removed the bullet and repaired the damage to his right lung. The only problem Jay was facing now was blood loss; the bullets' trajectory had nicked his pulmonary artery which the vascular surgeon had repaired promptly. Lung damage also meant a chest drain to allow the lung to re inflate and also allow the excess fluid to drain away.

"We've lost his pulse, his blood pressure has dropped" a nurse shouted.

"Quick we need a shot of epinephrine stat, get that resus trolley now! Everybody take your places" the theatre nurse shouted.

The defibrillator patches were applied to Jay and the consultant shouted "everybody clear". For some unknown reason at that exact moment of the defibrillator being activated, the whole hospital seemed to lose most of its power, causing the hospital to revert to the backup generator for a few seconds.

"That was odd, power cut maybe?" The nurse shrugged.

The consultant noted the reason for his patient's deterioration "Its hypovolemic shock, if we don't do something now we're gonna lose him and that's not happening on my shift" he shouted.

It took three attempts to restart his heart and after a nerve wracking two minutes his pulse could be felt and was displayed as a weak signal on the screen.

"Good work everyone" the consultant congratulated his team on a successful operation " this man is exceptionally lucky, nurse Jones, he'll need to be on icu for a few days, get two bags of blood product, iv fluids and Hartman's solution started asap". The nurses nodded and wheeled him through to recovery where he stayed until he regained a state of consciousness.

* * *

"Kai, what aren't you telling me? What could be bigger than the serpentine?" Cole asked too harshly. Kai spoke quietly, his emotions struggling to stay inside, "it...it's Jay, his voice sounded broken, "he was seriously injured, I...I didn't know, couldn't remember what happened".

"I woke up here and could hear them talking about him next door" the worry in his voice was starting to show.

Cole's mouth hung open in a silent scream, not knowing how to take this news of his best friends' sudden health issues.

"Kai what did you hear? The nurses won't tell me anything, I'm not his next of kin, Kai...please...".

Kai looked at Cole with fear in his eyes and replied "he was dying Cole, J...Jay was dying, they took him to the operating room" he wiped a tear from his eyes as Cole rushed to his uninjured side to hug him.

"Hey, it'll be ok, Jay's strong, Kai...come on snap out of it" Cole sighed.

Just as this information was sinking in Cole saw Nya coming round the corner of the hospital, with panic clear in her eyes.

"Where's Kai?" She shouted somewhat relieved to see Cole mostly uninjured.

"I'm glad you're here, I'm going to see where Jay is, Kai is here" Cole commented and pointed behind him whilst trying to make a swift exit.

"I'm here" Kai groaned as he poked his head from around the curtain, Cole was relieved to see another familiar face so he left Nya to comfort Kai while he went to look for his sensei. Zane must have had the same idea as both of them barrelled into each other as they were coming around opposite corners, the wind knocked out of Cole with a huge thud..

"Sheesh, watch where you're going dumb ass", Cole spat before looking up and seeing Zane's face look apologetic.

"Hey sorry Frosty, didn't see you there" he winced as Zane helped him to his feet.

"I'm sorry too Cole, are you ok?"

"Y...yeah yeah, I err I'm fine, a few splinters, cuts and so on, thank god you're okay" as he casually hugged Zane.

"Actually I was going to see if there was any news on Jay, apparently he was seriously injured according to Kai and these nurses won't tell me a damn thing...gahhh" Cole's anger starting to show as he hit the wall with the back of his hand and remembered the earlier conversation he had with the nurse.

"It's ok Cole, Sensei has just arrived and is going to see him, we can go too but it has to be a quick visit".

When Jay opened his eyes he noticed pure white tiled walls and nurses hurriedly doing their work, he heard beeping noises and bubbling coming from somewhere. Jay attempted to move away from the noise and bright lights and fall back to sleep as he was feeling drowsy due to the effects of the general anaesthetic in his system. As soon as he moved he felt such excruciating pain, he screamed and began shaking uncontrollably; beads of sweat became visible on his deathly white face.

"N..nope...bad idea, J...Jay" he croaked, his throat felt raw and dry. He hissed through his teeth as he tried to ride out the waves of pain wracking his upper body.

"Wow, my v...voice sounds strange" he mumbled.

"That will be when we had to intubate you before surgery, it can cause temporary damage to the voice" the nurse smiled "Good to see you're awake at last and back in the land of the living" the nurse beamed.

"Besides there's someone here to see you, if you're feeling up to it".

Sensei Wu was arriving in the recovery department having been allowed through, he told the nurses that he was the next of kin for Jay Walker, being as Jay's parents were on extended vacation.

Cole and Zane also appeared behind their Sensei, unsure of what they were going to see but when they finally saw Jay they were shocked at his appearance but a huge wave of relief was washed over Cole when he saw that Jay was alive and smiling.

* * *

Cole's pov

Jay's skin was deathly white, his lips and extremities were a bluish colour from lack of oxygen, and he was covered in bruises and cuts on his unbandaged skin. There were various tubes attached to his veins providing blood and additional fluids, and one coming from his chest which was swaying and bubbling with a horrid blood coloured fluid accumulating in the sealed container.

Cole didn't know what to do, he had to be strong for his team, to show leadership qualities meant showing no weakness but in front of him was his best friend, his team mate...his brother...Jay who was at deaths door, hanging on by a thread. He did the only thing he could think off, he approached the bed and held Jay's hand and squeezed gently, he whispered into Jay's ear and willed him to get better. At that moment Jays' eyes fluttered open to reveal grey almost lifeless orbs where brilliant blue sapphires once shone, he looked straight at Cole and smirked.

"Did ya miss me rock head? Wha..happened to me?" Jay groaned still in visible pain.

"Hehe, Zaptrap good to see you awake, you scared me and Kai back there" Cole ruffled his black hair sheepishly and winced when he felt another cut. He was stunned at the change in Jay in only an hour, his complexion made Cole feel nauseous, his eyes, the pattern of bruises adorning his skin was enough to make Cole cry, realising just how close he had been to losing his brother.

* * *

Zane was speechless; he didn't attempt to say anything regarding calculations as this wasn't the time, he was ecstatic to see Jay awake though even though he thought it best to leave Jay to rest as he took in the full image of how much damage had been inflicted to his brother.

Jay again attempted to move onto his right side to get a better view of his visitors, the anaesthetic effects were wearing off as was the strong pain medication.

"Arrrrggghh, unghhhhh h...hurts ssoo much, w..what happened to m...meeee, he grimaced painfully, sucking in short shallow breaths. Jay was battling waves of intense pain which made his chest feel like lightning something wasn't right.

"Whoa whoa, easy there Jay" Cole soothed.

"You gotta take it easy buddy" you've just come out of surgery", Cole was genuinely concerned and visibly upset at the pain Jay was in but he couldn't do anything for him, he wanted to take Jays' pain away and get out of here.

"Jay, your medical team have suggested you stay here to recuperate for at least 3 weeks" Sensei Wu stated.

"However, if you feel better before then we can have you on board the Bounty" he added.

"Sensei is right Jay, we are fully equipped to help you recuperate on board, I have much medical knowledge in my data banks that will assist in your recovery " Zane stated in his nindroid voice.

"Oh. ok, Jay mumbled still fighting the waves of pain that threatened the unwelcome darkness and potential unconsciousness.

I...I d...don...feel so g..good, "Jay mumbled almost incoherently.

"Hang on buddy, I'll fetch the nurse" Cole worriedly rushed off in search of someone.

At that moment Jay grabbed at his chest, feeling a tightening before his world went black. His heart had stopped again, he was flatlining which set off alarm bells around his bed and all at once the nurses and doctors jumped into action. Zane, Wu and Cole were ushered out of recovery whilst they performed cpr on Jays' prone broken body. Outside the room they could hear the commotion and the defibrillator being switched on however every time it was used on Jay the power in the hospital reverted to back up power.

"It's almost as if Jay was using the energy from the hospital power grid or recharging his element" Wu mumbled to himself "interesting".

"What the hell happened, I was gone for like 5 seconds" Cole boomed, he pinched the bridge of his nose as a headache threatened to overtake him and bunched his eyebrows together, "how much more can Jay take" he thought.

"I need to get back in there, we can't lose him Sensei, I...I can't lose him" Cole sorrowfully added hoping no-one heard him.

"There is nothing we can do Cole, he is in their hands for now" Sensei Wu stated.

"However I sense he will not be leaving us anytime soon" Wu smiled as he was vaguely aware of what was happening to his blue ninja of lightning. He put his hand on Cole's back and led him and Zane to a seated area to wait for news.

Kai and Nya walked down the long corridor and joined with the rest of their team, they were all waiting to be filled in on Jay's condition. A few minutes passed and a consultant came through the doors of recovery to speak to Sensei Wu.

"Hello my name is David Moss. MD, I'm the consultant who operated on Mr Walker earlier" he prompted Wu to sit down.

"We managed to remove the bullet although it had punctured his right lung and damaged a small part of his pulmonary artery, this in itself wasn't a big issue however he lost a large amount of blood which sent him into shock. We stabilised his blood loss but his heart stopped during surgery, we're not sure why so we going to keep him on the ecg machine to monitor him over the next 24 hours". There was no emotion in the consultants voice, it's as if he was reading from a cue card.

"It was touch and go in surgery for Mr Walker and obviously you've all just witnessed a very emotional scene, rest assured he is stable right now and he'll be up on icu for a few days".

"Normally huge blood loss affects other organs which go into shutdown mode, but in Mr Walkers case his internal organs seem fine, his heart however has been affected and possibly his lungs" the consultant finished with a sigh.

"Do any of you know what else happened after he was shot?" The consultant questioned without giving more information about why he needed to know this.

* * *

Please review, remember this is my first fanfiction guys xx


	4. Ulterior motives

**Chapter 4 Ulterior motives**

 **Back on the Bounty a week later.**

The Bounty was docked a couple of blocks away from the hospital, but within easy and quick access in case they had a phone call regarding Jay's health and in the event of sudden deterioration.

 _Cole's pov_

Cole was pacing his shared dormitory, he was alone and he was beside himself with worry. His memory was an image forever burned into his brain of Jay being electrically charged with a defibrillator. Jay wasn't breathing, smiling, his eyes were open but there was nothing there, his eyes though…the colour of them didn't look right, they had lost their jewelled appearance and now resembled a cloudy angry sky.

Cole suddenly felt completely afraid, he felt something inside break, then tears started flowing freely. He had been holding these emotions inside for a whole week, he had spoken to Wu who had tried to persuade Cole to join in with his meditation sessions in order to relieve some of his pent up aggression and anxiety.

Cole had decided against meditating and had instead resigned himself to pacing in the bedroom, after a while he sat down and eventually fell asleep, Kai walked in with Zane who were approaching their respective bunks as Cole was beginning to stir.

"Sssh,Cole's asleep" Kai muttered, a second too late as Zane closed the dormitory door with a click.

"Oops, sorry bro, didn't mean to wake you, are you ok" Kai asked as he gently sat next to Cole.

"H…hey guys,what's up?" Cole yawned, rubbed his eyes and flicked his long black bangs out of his line of vision.

"Nothin bro, we're planning on visiting Jay at the hospital, do you wanna join us" Kai asked quietly.

"We might find out if he is able to be discharged from the hospital today", Zane added positively, leaning on the wall opposite the bed Cole and Kai were on.

"Apparently he is recuperating quicker than they had anticipated, so if all is well we can transfer his care to the Bounty" Zane said with a smile.

Cole's face instantly lit up at this positive news, the last few days had been a blur for him, he had stayed away from the hospital as he didn't want to see Jay in pain, truth be told he couldn't handle seeing others in pain knowing there was nothing he could do.

"Cool, lets go then Frosty, are ya coming Fireboy" Cole leaped up off the bed all anxieties gone for the moment. All that was on Cole's mind now was getting him back on board and safe and then they could hopefully find out as a team why the serpentine attacked them.

* * *

 **Meanwhile in the serpentine tomb**

Pythor and Skales were holding a meeting with all the remaining serpent brethren which had just been adjourned, there had been previous rumours that the ninja had been injured and the troublesome blue ninja was dead, however upon closer inspection and some reconnaissance missions by the serpent new news began emerging that all ninja were alive and accounted for. Yes there were injuries as was expected, the serpent were not expecting an explosion so lost some of their own kind.

"Good, good our plan has worked, we have effectively weakened them" Skales hissed gleefully to Pythor.

Not sso fassst" Pythor yelled, "we need to find thiss out for ourssselvesss " We need to find some willing followersss to go and check on them without being sspotted".

"Issn't that a bit risky, conssidering how angry the ninja would be? Surely they will be on the highest guard, besides they weren't expecting thiss" Skales said somewhat curious

"What exactly was this weapon you got me to use anyway?" Skales asked.

"Well I'm not entirely sure Pythor said, it was a prototype we found in Cyrus Borg's tower, I think it was meant as an EMFG, in effect it should have been used for the nindroid army if they became rogue or unstable." Pythor explained.

"And pray tell, what is an EMFG" Skales rolled his eyes.

"Oh, its an electro-magnetic field generator, I got this little beauty from General Cryptor before he left this realm"

Pythor admired the buttoned device with intrigue and pride, it was currently connected by a system of wires into a modern looking generator.

"He died you sssee but before he passsed, I asssked him to make something that would negatively affect one of the ninja, we were planning on Zane though, he would have been an easier target and ssso much easier to corrupt…although I had no idea it would affect the lightning ninja what with being human and all" Pythor laughed.

"But he is the elemental master of lightning, surely he can wield energy and create it" Skales added.

"Well yessss, we know that now", Pythor hissed "however what the ninja don't' know isss that there beloved blue ninja ssscum is now powering our underground base with the energy we harnessed from him hahahahahaha. Anyway if the EMFG didn't kill him, it would have rendered him weak and vulnerable and when he regains some of his strength we will try again".

"How are we supposed to do that, what are you suggesting Pythor?" Skales asked incredulously.

"If we run out of power down here we'll have no choice but to live on the surface again surely" Skales added.

"What and mingle with the surface dwellers I don't think so" Pythor said and shook his head, "we're outcast, we don't belong up there anymore than they belong down here".

"Why live up there when there is a powerful electrically charged ninja that could sustain our power down here for generations?" Pythor asked.

"So what are you saying Pythor, you're being very vague about this? Can you at least tell me what the weapon did" Skales added, he was getting annoyed at being kept out of the loop, the constant questioning made him feel like a petulant school child.

Pythor looked away but continued to tinker with the weapon admiring it and then said with a huff:

"The gunshot effectively weakened the ninja so his element would overload if subjected to something as powerful as this EMFG".

"Why didn't thissss weapon affect Zane..." Skales asked

"The simple answer to that Skales is because Zane's element protected him, he was not injured at all...that I'm aware of".

"Back to the original quesssstion, the bullet was simply used to cause pain and harm, which is nothing less than they all deserve…...I should add I thoroughly enjoyed participating in it" he added with a sly smile.

"The injury caused his physical human body to go into shock and his element was rendered uselessssss, effectively ssssstripping the blue ninja of his element and ability to protect himself and otherssss".

"Thisss then allowed me to harness his power when you pressed the button, the ssssubsequent explosion I admit I wasn't expecting that to happen. It seemsss there was too much power for this unit to absorb, which means it'll need to be upgraded".

"Sssso if thissss weapon or the bullet didn't kill him what do we do next, Pythor?" Skales asked.

"We wait, we can't attempt anything yet, the ninja will be far too protective over their fallen comrade, however when the time isss right we will ssstrike and finish him once and for all" Pythor angrily hissed and then laughed evily.

Skales then asked quietly "but surely if you kill him, he won't be able to power our underground sanctuary, I thought that was the plan".

"Yesss, yesss of coursse…...you're right, but if plan A doesn't work then we can utilise plan B"

"Plan B before you ask is to end his life...kill him, terminate him...which ever term you prefer Skales...you and I will kill him" Pythor added gleefully.

"Besides he never showed me or my brethren any remorse when he and his clan attacked us in the past and if plan A fails we can send a message to the ninja that they'll never forget and it'll start with their beloved blue ninja and end with his worthless tortured body being beyond any of their reaches when we're finisshed with him" Pythor hissed and his laughter made the other serpentine look around.

* * *

 **Wow guys, 3 days running now and these words just keep coming...Please review.**


	5. It ain't half bad

**Ninjago hospital**

Cole was the first to speak once he arrived in the hospital, "what ward is he on guys?"

"I believe he was taken up to the cardiac suite for rehabilitation, Zane added.

"But to confirm, we need to ask as I can't access patient records in this hospital…data protection seems to be very good in this place" Zane commented and looked impressed with the security systems in place.

"Take it Lloyd isn't coming again?" has he actually seen Jay since it happened?" Cole asked.

"No Cole, Lloyd hates hospitals, he tried to visit…he really did, but Misako took him back to the Bounty, he looked terrible" Kai replied.

"He…HE looked terrible, are you kidding me?! What the actual f*** Kai, Jay was gonna die, you said so yourself, me and Zane saw it too and the green machine couldn't even come and see him…unbelievable". Cole raged and pinched the bridge of his nose so as not to let his stress levels build again.

"Ok guys lets go and see him, cos now I need something to take my mind off Lloyd" Cole angrily added as he walked off towards the reception desk " and maybe we can find cake too", he snickered.

"Hi miss err"…Cole looked for her name tag… "Hi miss…... err..Rose, my name is Cole, could you tell us which room Jay Walker is in".

Rose looked up and saw this very muscular black haired man in front of her, she felt a little intimidated by his size but her eyes were melting into his gaze, his eyes too were momentarily captured in her eyes until he repeated the question.

"Jay Walker, do you know what room he is in?" Cole persisted with the question with slightly flushed cheeks as he maintained eye contact with Rose.

"Sure, he is up on ward 5, room 3", Rose replied then smiled at him as he walked away.

* * *

"Well that went better than expected" Kai smirked at Zane, motioning towards Cole and his still flushed cheeks. The elevator opened to reveal that the ward Jay was on was indeed the cardiac suite where the majority of patients were in their 60's owing to years of wear and tear or excesses of lifestyle. Jay was by far the youngest patient this ward had ever seen.

"Here we are, room 3, did you remember the obligatory grapes, cards and flowered items " Zane asked before opening the door.

"Of course, no trip to the hospital is complete without them" Kai laughed aloud and then laughed internally at thinking strong mints should also be used when visiting hospitals because of the smell" Kai chuckled again.

As soon as the 3 ninja walked through the door they noticed how bright it was, the room was full of sunshine and Jay was miraculously sitting in his chair with his dressing gown on soaking up the suns' rays like they had an energy that no one else could see. He turned his head when he heard the door open and watched with glee as they came through the door bearing gifts.

He stood up carefully with one arm, the other was in a sling owing to the chest drain that had been removed a few days ago. He was still in some visible pain from his heart and lung damage but the pain from his broken ribs, cuts and bruises was dissipating day by day.

His complexion was not deathly white anymore it was his normal fair complexion dotted with the occasional bruise here and there, he looked like Jay again except for his eyes.

* * *

Jay had a rather mischievous grin on his face when he stood and a slight flush to his cheeks, signalling something he was hiding from his brothers…he didn't dare admit to his brothers that he had a particular affection to one of the nurses who came in to see him on night duty last night.

They had apparently hit it off straight away within a day of being on the ward. Giggling, led to joking which led to touching and so on and within 6 nights Jay and the nurse had been found in a rather hot situation in Jay's private bathroom within his hospital room late last night. Leading to that nurse being sent to another ward or face disciplinary action. Of course the ward couldn't tell Jay off as he was ill and a patient and didn't know right from wrong, but for a nurse it was bad and was seen as taking advantage of someone vulnerable.

Jay didn't feel vulnerable and he would never admit it to his brothers but he needed that night of passion, it refreshed him and recharged his battery, well that's how it felt…stimulating and electrifying at the same time. He also felt naughty and kind of guilty for hearing what had happened to the nurse…he didn't even think of Nya at that point even when he saw Kai enter the room.

"Jay, hi good to see you" Zane said trying to break the silence as Jay seemed to be miles away.

"Guys hey you came…Zane, Kai, C….Cole!", Jay hugged him as tight as he could without injuring himself, "you look great" Jay beamed.

Cole was immensely happy to see Jay up and walking around considering only 7 days ago he technically died twice…Cole shuddered at the thought of that memory again.

There was still something off about Jay, his eyes hadn't reverted back to their original sapphire blue, the eyes that mesmerised Cole for some reason he couldn't put his finger on.

"Well, me and Zane spoke to the Doc and we're planning on breaking you outta here within the next day or so!" It was said with a boyish enthusiasm, verging on gleeful excitement.

"Whaddya think huh? Wanna be outta this place or what?" Kai asked excitedly.

"Do I? omg I've been going out of my head with boredom in here, they don't even have the Fritz Donigan channel on this stupid tv, the food kinda sucks…seriously Cole it's bad plus I can hear the old guys snoring through the walls, it was driving me insane" Jay whined, a part of his chatty side coming back, making his brothers realise he was almost back to his old self.

"Soooooooo I had to find other ways of keeping myself occupied, which is one reason why I need to get out of here" he laughed" he smirked again thinking about last nights' escapades and then blushed.

"Ooooh Kaaaaay," Kai raised an eyebrow "care to elaborate on that little bit of info".

"No…not right now,I'll tell you when I'm back on the Bounty Jay mumbled and blushed again.

Kai turned to Cole who both shared an equally puzzled expression and both of them had their eyebrows raised in animated suspension.

"Right well we're going to speak to your doctor to arrange your discharge paperwork and meds, and we'll see you tomorrow mid-morning, best get some sleep Jay, you still kinda look tired and beat" Kai motioned to Jays' bed

"Well duh, he got shot at and something else, what do ya think he's gonna look like?" Cole retorted sarcastically.

Before they left Cole hurriedly rushed to Jay's side and hugged him and then apologised for not coming to see him earlier in the week "I'm so sorry Jay, I really don't like these places, I'm soo glad to see you better though, you really scared me…I…..I thought I'd lost you.

"I'll see you tomorrow ok" Cole added kissing Jay's cheek.

"mmm k, see ya tomorrow…oh and Cole have some cake buddy you look dreadful hehehe" Jay added before he completely fell asleep.

Kai and Zane arrived at the nursing desk in the cardiac suite to discuss Jay's imminent departure from the ward, they were waiting for the consultant to give them the details of his recuperation, what he can and can't do and when he needs to come for check ups.

* * *

The consultant walked in and motioned all 3 plain clothed ninja to sit as he went over the details of one Jay Walkers potential discharge.

"My name is Doctor S Raa, I'm Jay's personal consultant, I believe you want us to discharge Mr Walker tomorrow is that correct?".

"You should be aware that he's not to do any strenuous exercises especially cardio, he'll need to be given a protein rich diet and his fluid levels will need monitoring daily, will you be capable of dealing with this?"

Zane casually answered "Yes, we are more than capable of looking after Jay, what medication will he require?"

"He'll need pain relief, we've given him an oral liquid morphine, as well as cardiac medicine to sustain his heart. Finally, antibiotics and steroids for his lungs to strengthen them. He's also had a weeks worth of IV antibiotics to clear up any infection the bullet wound may have caused, just a precaution though."

"However if I could, his case is quite interesting to me and it would be very beneficial to my research and that of the hospital of course if he were to stay here for another 3 weeks." He shuffled his patient notes nervously. "So we could keep an eye on him of course, nothing more."

"He is the youngest patient we have had on this ward and his miraculous recovery and healing have required us to investigate this phenomena, which is why I'm asking…if you don't want him to stay here I do have a facility set up outside of Ninjago of course. Its, my own fully funded facility where I conduct my own research and he would be looked after with the utmost care I assure you all".

All 3 ninja looked at each other and shook their heads and all in unison firmly said NO without a moments though. Cole thought to himself that there was no way in hell that Jay would be taken to a facility in god knows where for god knows how long for people to experiment on him like he's some sort of science experiment…the thought sent a shudder through Cole.

"NO, he's coming home tomorrow and that's that" Cole stated firmly without emotion, his eyes fixed on the Doctor" please just sort his paperwork and medications out so we can go tomorrow without a fuss".

"Fine, as you wisssh" the doctor finished

"Thank you, Dr Raa" Zane said as they all walked out the room, slightly puzzled at what the doctor had asked of Jay without even asking Jay in person.

"Zane that was odd, I don't think Jay would want to be locked up in another hospital for 3 more weeks" Kai asked feeling slightly unsettled, "there's no way in hell Jay's going there".

Cole then boomed before they were out of the hospital "What was that doctor thinking?"

"What the f***! He didn't even say where the facility was, for all we know it could be some psycho underground lair with a hideous torture chamber setup" He finished.


	6. Excuse me?

Jay dreamily lay next to his new girlfriend, they were under the covers on the small hospital bed following a rather lust filled evening.

"I don't know what you're doing to me, at this rate I can see me having a heart attack."

"I can't help it Jay, I'm kinda surprised you don't have a girlfriend, you don't do you?"

"Firstly in relation to your question; no I don't and thank you, I aim to please, it's just another one of my many abilities" Jay whispered as he nibbled on her ear lobe.

"When can we do this again" he asked with his hand firmly on her waist.

"Your place or mine I don't mind, but don't blame me if I can't keep my hands off you when we meet" she said as she turned over and kissed him on the lips.

"Do ya really have to go" Jay whispered, "you could stay a little longer".

"I've gotta go before they find me in here, if they do I'll be struck off for sure" She huffed "Do not pass go, do not collect $200 straight outta here" she added the monopoly reference for added appeal.

"It's too risky, it took me 4 years to get this far into my nursing training and now I have a job, car and house to pay for."

She quickly jumped out of bed and snuck her clothes back on in front of Jay leaving him to admire her svelte body.

"I've put my number and address in your bag baby and I'll see you real soon…I hope" she finished with a deep sensual kiss which caused Jay to produce a throaty groan of pleasure.

He got up off his bed and let her out of his private hospital room. "See you later hot stuff" and with that he walked back to his bed, again feeling strangely full of energy and refreshed like the night before.

* * *

Before he got into bed he looked in the mirror and pulled typical male poses in front of it, showing off his masculinity. He still didn't feel quite right though even though he was almost fully healed and then he saw it….he focused on his hair line, his chin and his face checking for damage, then noticed his eyes. There was no colour at all, no spark no ocean blue or sapphire shine just dull and lifeless grey. He felt physically fine but something was missing and he couldn't place it, Jay suddenly remembered back to the explosion and hurriedly felt his abdomen for damage as this was where the majority of the impact had occurred, but there was nothing there, no scars but an odd cut here and there; he was otherwise healthy to a certain degree.

Jay decided to test his element maybe he could reprogram the tv channels in his room using an electrical current. He attempted to create a small spark between his finger and thumb as he was used to doing on the Bounty or anywhere he chose to. It took a few attempts as initially nothing happened and he was becoming dismayed but then suddenly he produced a massive electrical surge from within his body that travelled down his arm to his finger and thumb. The electrical surge managed to create a shockwave which affected the entire hospital and a further 4 blocks according to the street lights which had momentarily been lit a few seconds ago. Luckily the hospital had a backup generator necessary for reasons relating to powercuts. The hospital reverted to backup power for a few seconds until the main grid power returned, Jay just looked a little shocked at what had happened.

"Holy shizzle" "what the actual funk was that" he squealed and ran back to his bed. _What does this mean_ he thought, _What did that damn weapon do to me_?

Thoughts were rushing through his mind at this new discovery, he pondered for a few more minutes.

"I guess this might explain why I've been feeling drained every day and yet every night I feel energised with or without the added activity?"

"Let's hope Wu can answer my questions" he mumbled to himself before falling asleep.

"And why the hell are my eyes grey" he shouted out loud.

* * *

 **The following day back on the Bounty.**

Wu was finished meditating for the time being and resorted to using the sprit smoke to see if he could find any answers. Misako was keeping Lloyd busy; he was one of the only ninja who could actually train so this is where he stayed and focussed his energy.

Zane and Kai paid regular visits to Jay on a daily basis to keep him company and to keep his spirits up, being cooped up in a hospital was depressing enough but without visitors coming it felt like a prison to Jay. Nya had also visited the hospital but each time she went he was sleeping peacefully so she didn't stay, she just opted to leave a little card and snack for him for when he woke up.

As per the day before, Kai, Zane and Cole ventured off the Bounty to retrieve their brother, Kai carried a change of clothes for Jay. He did have some joggers and trainers lying about plus a tshirt so these were all packed. His favourite clothes were the ones he wore to the mall and cinema, these were destroyed as they were soaked with blood and had to be cut off before surgery. Zane had to remind Kai about the spare clothes and stated that Jay probably did not want to come out of the hospital in his hospital gown with his buttocks showing.

"Come on Cole, it's time to get Jay back, oh and Zane's cooked and packed us up a breakfast as he figured we wouldn't be eating at the hospital."

"Is Zane coming too?" Cole asked, "Don't like the thought of transporting Jay without the walking medical encyclopaedia with us" Cole smirked.

"Yeah, he's trying to gather as much information as possible about Jay's condition before he arrives, he seems to be going a bit overboard though" Kai laughed at his own sense of humour.

"Anyway, Zane's on the deck, meet us out there when you're dressed bro" Kai winked and left.

Meanwhile, Nya, Misako and Lloyd decided to venture out on an undercover reconnaissance mission to find out more about the device that was used on Jay. When they finally arrived at the scene of devastation the majority of the mess was cleared away, workmen were busy repairing windows and damage to concrete columns. Nya snuck into an alley with Lloyd and Misako and proceeded to log into the Bounty's mainframe computer in order to review the security footage. She was hoping to find out the exact location of where the serpentine were standing prior to the explosion occurring.

"Over here, guys this is where they were standing, the ninja were across the road from here" Nya stated and pointed. "All I can see though is debris and pieces of metal embedded into the walls, whatever caused that blast was a pretty powerful weapon."

"I just hope it was destroyed in the blast, there's no telling what a weapon like that could do to our team in the wrong hands" Nya stated.

"Hey err…Nya it's already in the wrong hands" Lloyd replied while rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, thanks for that Lloyd, you think I don't know that!" Nya replied in annoyance, she raised an eyebrow as she cocked her head to one side as she spoke.

"This manhole cover has recently been tampered with…although it could be due to the explosion…I guess that could have unsettled it" Lloyd said

"Well, it looks like it was an escape route" Misako commented as she lifted up a few snake scales in her hands signalling a hasty escape.

"Grab those scales, then we can analyse them because I sure as hell don't fancy going down there unprepared and on our own…without weapons or backup,""" Nya said.

"Well there's nothing else here except rubble", Misako sighed "we're wasting our time, there must be something we've missed".

"Ok guys" Lloyd piped up "I say we go back to the ship make a few phone calls, see what these scales bring up, come on Nya."

* * *

Right guys, let go get Jay back", Cole grinned with a dazzling white smile as he walked onto the deck in his casual clothes, tight black jeans and figure-hugging white t-shirt, he actually looked like he was trying to impress someone.

They arrived at the hospital within a few minutes, feeling jovial and positive. Cole again took it upon himself to approach the reception desk and ask which room Jay walker was in. He was caught off-guard however when he saw Rose again working behind the desk, she looked at him with longing in her eyes, he noticed her for the first time and was completely blown away by her beauty. She had luscious pink glossed lips and a tight top which accentuated her curves perfectly. At first, he was dumbstruck, he forgot what to say completely as his mind went blank. Zane was quick to notice and came to his rescue.

"Err my friend here is trying to ask what room Mr Jay Walker is in?" Zane asked calmly.

"Oh, err….s..sorry miss err…Rose" Cole stammered as he briefly remembered her name.

"He's still on Ward 5 and in room 3."

"You're sweet, are you always this articulate Cole?" she questioned while smiling at his blushing cheeks.

"Oh and don't forget to come and see me before you leave, she smiled and puckered her lips at him, I've got something for you."

"Wow, what is with you and women, she's practically begging for it" Kai was awestruck at Cole's ease of getting cute girls to fall for him wherever he went.

The 3 plain clothed ninja took the elevator up to ward 5 and were eager to get out of the hospital quickly as soon as Jay was ready to go. Truth be told the Doctor they had spoken to on the previous night had spooked them all a little with his bizarre requests. They hoped they wouldn't bump into him again today. Kai couldn't guarantee what reaction Cole would give if the doctor asked the same questions again.

"Jay you ready to come home, bro? we've brought you a change of clothes as I figured you wouldn't want to wear those anymore" Kai pointed at the hospital gown as he hollered across the room.

"Actually you'd be surprised at how good these things are, they don't get in the way of anything, they can be pushed aside…no jeans or zippers to contend w…"Jay stopped mid-sentence and instantly blushed, having felt like he'd given away too much information.

Kai and Cole again exchanged glances, they were getting more intrigued by this remarkable difference in Jay, although he wasn't revealing much his personality had changed a little, he seemed to be more relaxed and laid back. Of course, if Zane had scanned him he would have been able to tell why Jay was acting this way in an instant, but the thought hadn't even occurred to him to do so as this would invade his privacy without Jay's prior consent.

Jay got dressed rapidly, and was out of the bathroom within 5 minutes, bag in hand.

"Ta da…get in, your chariot awaits" Cole laughed pointing to the wheelchair he was holding.

"I'm not getting in that thing, I am perfectly capable of walking….besides this place has an elevator, it's not like I'm taking 5 flights of stairs, hehe unless the lift gives out, but I wouldn't be surprised given a number of power outages this hospital has had this week…I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere" he said nervously.

"Ok, ok, ok, pipe down", Kai huffed and grabbed Jay's personal belongings whilst Cole and Zane assisted Jay out of his room.

"Let's get outta here," they all said.

"Ah Mr Walker here is your medication, I have taken the liberty of arranging an appointment with Dr Raa in 2 weeks time. The address and relevant telephone number will be posted to you in due course. The Doctor does hope you attend as it would be in your best interests to do so" said the nurse on ward 5 reception.

"Yeah..ye haaa thank you, nurses….see ya soon" Jay hollered as they walked him away and towards the elevator.

* * *

Dr Raa was careful not to be seen by Jay or his companions as he packed up all of his belongings and then promptly left his office on the ward with no intentions of ever coming back, he purposely deleted all of Jay's medical records from the system and then took all of the hard copies including Jay's medical files, blood samples, lab results and so on and travelled to his facility located on the outskirts of Ninjago.

Once there he made a phone call to a friend to let him know that Jay was alive and well and added that he had left the hospital against the doctors' orders of 3 weeks rest and recuperation. Once he was through with that part he proceeded to scan the required documents across to this friend. The friend was pleased with the results "Good good, see you in 2 weeks" he replied down the phone.

Cole and Zane were walking out towards the hospital lobby with Jay when he suddenly remembered the girl at the reception desk had something for him, so he quickly changed direction without telling anyone.

"Argh….. f**************ck" Jay immediately yelled, stopping Cole in his tracks as he realised his error and quickly apologised as he sat Jay down on the nearest chair with the assistance of Zane.

The sudden change in direction was bad for Jay as his ribs were still recovering from being broken in different areas, for one his ribs were bruised and damaged near his sternum following the cardiopulmonary resuscitation incident which always guarantees a broken rib or 2, and of course previous to his hospital admission the explosion that caused him to fly backwards into a building. To help with the pain Jay began breathing through his teeth until the worst of it had passed.

"Omg I'm so sorry Jay, are ya ok, do you need me to get a nurse?"

"N…..no I…I'm fine, I'll be ok" Jay hissed.

"Just stay here for a moment will ya, there's somethin I forgot to do".

"There goes lover boy", Kai shouted loud enough and rolled his eyes.

"Oi, shut it, hothead" Cole retorted back as he put on his best impression of attempting to approach a pretty woman, a woman who was damn hot each time Cole saw her…which had only been twice up until now.

"Hi Cole, I wanted to give you this", Rose said

She stood up then whispered in his ear "It's my number, give me a call, I know this great little nightclub not far from here…I bet you'd love it too with the right person" she brushed her lips on his ear as she moved away, Cole was suddenly a little feeling hot under the collar, he swiftly took the details.

"Thank you, I'll think about it" he said while winking at her.

* * *

 **A few hours later on the bounty**

Once the celebrations had died down and Jay had been welcomed back, it was time for early dinner, Zane took this opportunity to show off his exceptional cooking skills amongst other, he cooked up a feast worthy of a party. Meanwhile, ay and Nya were on the deserted deck of the bounty while everyone else was preparing the food with Zane.

"Hey Nya, how are ya? S…sorry about our date" Jay said a little sheepishly, "I got a little distracted, and something else came up" He looked down trying not to meet her eyes.

"Jay, don't worry about it" she sighed

"I know you're still ill and so on, but I really think this week has shown me that I don't need a man by my side all the time."

"Plus I'm tired of all the bickering between you, Cole and Kai, sooooooo perhaps it's better this way."

"Nya, I didn't come out here to have a full on discussion about our relationship, just what exactly are you saying to me?"

"I mean it's not like we're a couple, we never have been really. For one you're always too busy and when you're not busy you're always with Cole…..like you were avoiding me!"

"Look Jay …w…what I mean is that we…erm….… I mean YOU can never get past this embarrassment thing. Yes I'll agree it was cute to begin with but it's been 2 years now and I'm…well I've had enough" and with that she walked off, leaving Jay to look up as she walked away.

"Wow, way to kick a man when he's already down" he stared after her incredulously and then turned to face the blue skies.

"Dinner is served, come and get it", Cole shouted out of the door.

"Hey Jay, you coming in to eat?" Cole asked as he approached Jay and nudged him gently.

"Yeah cool…anyway looks like me and Nya just broke up." Jay sighed as a breath of pent up frustration was released in to the air. "I'm officially single again"

"Join the club buddy, you're not alone plus when are us guys gonna find time to be with the ladies?" Cole mocked.

Cole stated "Technically Wu said we don't have to do any training as such until our wounds are fully healed aaaaannnndd I've been told of this great night club in Ninjago city that's just opened…what do ya say that us bro's go on a night out….my treat?"

"That is if you feel up to it" Cole added and winked as he walked off back towards the kitchen.

"Let me think about it" replied Jay

Jay turned gently after taking a breath of fresh air before he retired into the dining area to eat "onwards and upwards" he said with a smile.


	7. Home sweet home

"Skales, we will get the blue ninja in 2 weeks, he has sssoooo much energy, he is practically wasting it without realising, I think the weapon must have triggered something with his element, he seems unstable according to these lab results that our undercover agent has sent across."

"Oooooh, it's better than we realised" Skales added gleefully, "we can harvest his energy if he has this much to spare."

"True, but his body won't last long if we do that plus he'll somehow need to recharge and if he does that he'll escape and then we're stuck again."

Pythor played with the weapon a little more before something came into his mind, "Ah of course…..this wonderous machine has altered his element therefore his element is now unstable, he probably doesn't even know this yet and I might be wrong but he could be a danger to his clan without realising."

"It'll only be a matter of time until he's an outcast like usss…..once he harms one of his beloved ninja brothers" Pythor added.

"And when that happens they'll discard him; like a piece of trash…so we can bring him in here and harvest his electricity".

"We can't harness his power here…Skales, imagine the noise, it won't be a pleasant experience for him. We have our own families down here who are unaware of the plans we have set in motion".

"Besides, he needs to attend the facility…Skales, and then we can bring him here and finish him off, hell we could even set a trap for the other ninja to watch his demise" Pythor added.

* * *

 **On the Bounty**

Sensei Wu had finished meditating and had also taken the time to look at his spirit smoke to get answers to what he was hoping wouldn't happen. He looked deeply into the smoke and saw 2 clouded figures huddled around a fuzzy blue figure, he was completely alone with these 2 figures. Wu tried to concentrate to get more from the image, this allowed him to to see more and he noticed that the blue figure was in fact Jay the elemental master of lightning, Wu could see 2 shiny silver items on his chest and dark patches on his gi. This in itself was enough to let him know that Jay's life was in imminent danger the exact date however could not be predicted by the spirit smoke but he knew it to be sooner than he would like to admit.

After the early dinner had finished, Wu immediately summoned the ninja into his quarters except for Jay who was unaware as he was concentrating on playing Fist to face with the CPU of the game console.

The ninja all hastily retreated into Wu's room as he explained to them that Jay was in danger and that he was to be watched at all times, not to be left alone unless that person could be trusted. They all nodded and agreed with Wu that they wouldn't tell Jay for fear of making him anxious, they all went back into the main room and sat down behind Jay watching him play without a care in the world. Cole was worried, Kai was too but they were strong as a team, they could beat this…whatever this was.

As the night began to draw in, Jay stifled a yawn as his brothers began to get up and retire to their shared dormitory. Jay promptly followed and almost set one foot into the dorm he shared with his brothers but was swiftly intercepted by Zane who motioned him out of the room and into the infirmary.

"Aww come on Zane, why do I gotta sleep in here, on my own?"

"Sorry Jay…..doctors' orders, this is a hospital bed and is more suitable for the ill than our bunks are."

"Also side rails to stop you from falling out and machines close by to monitor you."

"Gee thanks Zane", Jay giggled "I'm not that ill, but sure I'll try it for a few nights…just to make you happy."

"Good now rest, because tomorrow is a whole new day with some gentle physio exercises for your lungs as suggested by the nurses" Zane stated.

Zane watched Jay get into bed and then connected the various machines to him before he securely closed the door. Jay looked around the large infirmary getting accustomed to the size, the medical equipment on board was impressive, almost like a miniature hospital. Jay turned gently onto his side as he took his nightly dose of liquid morphine, he put the medicine cup down and accidentally touched the electrical machine closest to him, as soon as he touched it the machine stopped working and a small cloud of smoke began issuing from the top of it in a steady upwards spiral.

"Oh damn, Zane's not gonna like that" Jay hissed as he moved away from it rapidly. He hopped of the bed and tried to see if a small spark of his own element would bring some life into the machine so he recreated a spark between his finger and thumb but as before in the hospital nothing happened, he persevered and this time a massive bolt of lightning originating from his stomach, came down his arm and shot out of his hand until the lightning touched the machine and completely destroyed it as bits of it went flying around the room, luckily the miniature explosion caused Jay to naturally react as he turned his head away from the flying metal debris. The explosion ended all hopes that Jay would now have of repairing the expensive looking item of medical equipment as he huffed and approached his bed.

"Great, Zane's gonna kill me for sure" he squeaked as he carefully got back into bed.

The following morning arrived quickly, Jay slept remarkably well as no-one could be heard snoring and there were no whirring gears to be heard. Zane came into the room and noted the damage to the cardiac machine and frowned. He put Jay's breakfast on the hospital trolley table over the bed and then went to work on carefully picking up the pieces, once he had finished he put Jay's morning medication in front of him.

"Do you know what happened to this machine Jay?" Zane asked as he pointed to the obliterated machine on the floor.

"Errrr….n….no" Jay stammered hoping Zane wouldn't be able to tell he was lying.

"Ok, I surmise that you know more than you care to admit" Zane added raising an eyebrow whilst looking at Jay.

Busted Jay thought, although he still didn't say anything, just kept eating and looked away innocently trying to avoid all eye contact for fear of this mishap having to be explained.

"Ok here are some towels, go and take a shower and give one of us a call if you need help".

"What! Zane, I can do this myself, I know how to take a shower" Jay huffed indignantly.

"Remember Jay, I am here to help you recuperate and I do not appreciate the tone of your voice or your sharp wit" Zane answered coldly.

"Yeah, s…sorry Zane, it's just….I…I want to be back to my old self, but something isn't right and I….." Jay cut himself off mid-sentence as Zane eyed him suspiciously urging him to continue.

"No please continue Jay…..we are genuinely concerned about your health and well-being" Zane tilted his head in an apologetic position chastising himself for his sharp outburst a few moments ago.

"Heck if I knew, Zane you'd be the first to know…..look I'm gonna go an freshen up a bit" Jay said and sniffed as he walked away with his head down again avoiding eye contact with his nindroid brother.

30 minutes later all the ninja were on the deck of the bounty enjoying the warm weather and sunshine. Now that everyone was on board and accounted for they could travel away from the city and the resulting poisonous smog filled atmosphere.

The Bounty over the space of the morning had travelled to the grassland areas on the edge of Ninjago bay as this was where the air was clearest and this was also where the air posed no risk to Jay's weakened lung.

Zane had set up a series of breathing exercises for Jay all the while monitoring his oxygen saturations for signs of deterioration, after a while he let Jay rest and gave him refreshment. Zane was slightly worried about Jay's weakened state and wondered if he would ever be able to participate in any more ninja training or battles. He kept a watchful eye on him at all times none more so that the initial 2 hours since he'd been back on the Bounty.

Jay however was feeling like a naughty child, everywhere he went on the Bounty someone was always there watching him, he got used to it eventually even though it was beginning to annoy him. He had no idea that Sensei Wu had asked all of them to watch Jay like a hawk. Wu had not even spoken to Jay since he came back aboard the ship which in itself was odd, but Jay just shook it off.

Night time could not come around quickly enough for Jay, he was completely exhausted and his colour drained, he took the opportunity to put his head down for a few minutes so he walked off to his bed in the infirmary. He was fast asleep when Zane came in to check on him and Zane didn't want to disturb the sleeping ninja so quickly connected the machines to him and left. Zane frowned when he saw that Jay had somehow missed his night time medications potentially resulting in a restless night for him, so he set up his falcon in the infirmary to record anything which would notify Zane if Jay was in pain, which he was expecting.


	8. Maybe a little r n r?

Typically the night Jay forgot his medication was the night that he woke up almost every hour on the hour, feeling like someone was poking him with hot knives repeatedly. It took him a while to realise he had forgot to take his meds which he saw were typically on the opposite side of the room. The pain he felt, was threatening to come back with a vengeance so he hopped out of bed and strode over to the furthest wall to retrieve them. He supported himself on the wall as he drank the morphine and washed the tablets down with water, the pain was a constant reminder of how close he had been to dying, a thought he didn't want to relish.

He carefully walked back across the room to his bedside but he was beginning to feel weak, he stumbled a bit on his way which was odd and he became aware of spots in his line of sight. He never made it to his bed though, as he blacked out near his tray table and ended up falling into it as his legs gave way underneath him. The tray table upended and toppled over where it landed on his head with a sickening crack, the whole incident caused an almighty loud crash that pretty much woke everybody up on board even the heaviest of sleepers namely Cole was woken too.

Jay was out cold and sprawled on the floor when Zane rushed in to the infirmary, Cole poked his head around the infirmary door and said quietly "what the hell was that?"as he strained to look around the room in his sleepy state, his eyes eventually settled on to a still form on the floor, partially covered by a tray table. Cole laughed a little and shook his head as he approached Zane and offered to help.

"Why is he so stubborn Zane?, I kinda feel sorry for him he can't seem to get a break at the moment".

"Here let me help you Zane, 2 is better than one after all" as Cole lifted Jays long legs and Zane grabbed the uppermost portion of his unconscious body, they cautiously worked together to get Jay back in to the bed, once that was done, they lifted up the bed bars so he wouldn't fall out.

"I calculate it will be a long night for me as he will require neurological observations for the next few hours following trauma to the skull" Zane stated as his cyan eyes scanned for any other damage. He gently pulled open one of Jays closed eyelids and pointed his finger at the pupil to check for reaction times and to assess for any intracranial bleeding, he continued to the other eye before checking Jay's responses to voice and pain. Once he had completed all of these observations he looked back over at his brothers now standing by the door.

"You sure?", "I mean, it was only a little bump to the head" Kai whispered as he looked at Cole for reassurance.

"My falcon vision feedback saw the tray table hit him after he passed out, he inadvertently pulled it onto himself upon his descent to the floor, so technically he has 2 bumps to his head, possible concussion I would say" Zane replied.

"I will keep a watchful eye on him, please go back to bed I will notify you if anything changes in due course" Zane tucked Jay back in as he turned to Cole and Kai and motioned towards the door.

* * *

Jay woke up roughly 20 hours later he didn't feel like he'd slept particularly well and a throbbing headache woke him from his slumber. "Mmmmm….what time is it?" He stretched and yawned feeling somewhat unrefreshed. He looked around and saw no one, he looked out of the window and saw how dark it was "Wha…did I sleep the whole day?"

Zane walked in happy to finally see Jay awake, he gave Jay something to eat and drink and explained the events of the night before, Jay didn't remember a thing except getting out of bed for his meds everything after that was foggy. He was sure he could remember being prodded and poked though throughout the night but couldn't be sure. Zane was aware that Sensei Wu had not been to see Jay for a few days and thought it appropriate to explain that he had gone on a journey of enlightenment to the west of Ninjago and would be back within 12 days.

"How are you feeling now?"

"Surprisingly better, but I feel weak at the same time…..well I have, since leaving the hospital actually" Jay stated nonchalantly and shrugged his shoulders.

Zane frowned and seemed perplexed about his brother or more specifically his patient's current predicament he couldn't quite shake the feeling that something wasn't right about Jay, but he continued to monitor him over the next few days, he noted that although his health was improving his appearance was paling day by day and his strength was waning.

* * *

The next 6 days whizzed past quickly, each day the same as before, the ninja were becoming stronger as a team although one of them could only watch the sparring from the side lines. Jay had his own exercises to complete which left him tired and breathless but they were improving his lung capacity on a day to day basis.

Cole walked into the tv room and slouched on the chair near to Kai with 2 bottles of ice cold water thanks to Zane. "Phew that training session was hard, hey Cole?".

"Yeah I know right"

"What do ya say guys, Misako said we can go to the cake shop, they've got a promotion on today, it's half-price Tuesday" Cole said excitedly.

"What you mean…dirt brain; is that YOU want to go to the cake shop…huh did I get it right?" Kai mocked.

"Whatever fireboy, if you don't wanna come you don't have to besides we can get off the ship for a few hours" then motioned to Jay who was sitting on a beanbag and whispered "I think Jay would like it too, considering he's been cooped up in the infirmary for 10 days….look at him he looks miserable."

"Yeah ok you got me, let me get ready…..oh and someone's gonna need to ask Zane, he gets very 'mother hen like' over Jay" He laughed.

Both Cole and Kai decided to ask Zane in front of Jay for added emphasis, to which he simply replied "Yes, an outing would do him good"

So off they went, the Bounty was lowered to allow for ease of access being as Jay couldn't jump around as much as before. They all walked off into the city trying to find this amazing cake shop Cole had heard of which wasn't all that far from where they were currently located, it was 3 blocks away.

* * *

Jay trailed behind after the final block and motioned his brothers to carry on as he needed to sit for a moment, however he couldn't find a seat so he rested against a metal street light which was also housing a large transformer. The moment he touched it he received a massive jolt of pain as the entire electrical current from the light network, power grid and transformer made its way into his body via his hand. His hair stood on end and his eyes from corner to corner were glowing with pure electricity, there was no pupil or iris to see just electricity where his eyes should be.

Jay felt absolutely amazing better than he had felt in years, and yet he was scared about this new problem, but as per typical Jay he pushed it to the back of his mind until he could work it out for himself. He looked down for a couple of seconds and felt like he was back in Cyrus Borgs tower and hooked up to his virtual world machine, all around him were raw currents of electricity surging beneath the city, all strangely converging into this pole….that he was still touching.

Jay looked up and noticed his brothers coming back up the street with their cake boxes and bags and called to them, they rushed over and were startled when they saw his hair standing on end, when they looked into his eyes both brothers looked at Jay in stunned silence, Kai was so shocked he inadvertently dropped his cake boxes to the floor and stood there with his mouth agape as he fumbled around and attempted to picked them back up again without tearing his gaze away.

"J….Jay, your eyes man, what happened? Are you ok?" Kai asked once he had composed himself.

"What? what's wrong with my eyes? You're just jealous Fireboy because mine have changed colour!" Jay laughed completely oblivious as to what they were both gawking at.

Cole was completely bewildered; he was both amazed and scared at what Jays' eyes looked like at this very moment. To Cole it felt like a scene from a horror movie when a demon takes over some one's mind and body, but he shook that thought out of his head otherwise he might end up sleeping with one eye open and his dagger sheath under his pillow for added protection.

"Err J…..Jay, it….err looks like you've had enough excitement for one day, so what do you say we…err go back to the bounty?" Cole said whilst looking oddly perplexed with a look of uncertainty etched on his face.

"You need to see this Jay, it's kinda well...worrying and we need answers maybe Zane can help" Kai said.

"Yeah, yeah fine whatever cool, let's go, I'm feeling hungry…REALLY hungry and energised all of sudden, I feel like I could run a marathon or something" he giggled and jumped around a bit like an excited child. He still had his hand on the metal pole seemingly unaware that he was absorbing power from it and all other large electrical devices in the vicinity. No pedestrians noticed as it was broad daylight, the only sounds that could be heard were the honking of cars due to the traffic light signals being out and nearby transformers shorting out and sparking.

* * *

They reached the Bounty exceptionally fast, both Kai and Cole were breathless trying to keep up with Jay, they could have sworn that he was so fast he became a blur at one point before he stopped and got on board.

Cole, and Kai frog marched Jay to the infirmary and motioned Zane to come over quickly, they were unsure about this new problem with Jay, concern was growing as to what effect it would have on his body and his general safety. The eyes...Jay's eyes were the first priority that Cole mentioned, he was shaking and unsure what do about it and he became angry that Wu wasn't here to explain, Misako was about as useful as a chocolate teapot Cole thought. Jay was awestruck with how his eyes looked it made him feel like a superhero...after all, he had the energy of one.

Zane took over and briefly looked into Jay's eyes without touching him and then sent his falcon to pass an urgent message to Sensei Wu asking for advice; that is if the falcon could find Wu in time. As luck would have it Jay's eyes reverted back to grey within the hour and the only difference in him was hyperactivity. He had his usual talkative side back and his appetite had increased exponentially, he was going back for second servings, until he was completely full whereby he plonked himself in front of the television and looked around at everyone still sitting at the table.

"What?" he said nonplussed.

"Nothing...Jay just happy to see your appetite has increased" Kai shouted across the table.

"Hospital food that bad eh?" Lloyd said, asking what he thought was a good question considering he'd never had it.

After dinner the pots were cleared away by Misako and Nya, the boys all retired to the tv room to join Jay when Cole suddenly thought a night out would be a good idea.

He decided to ask Kai, Lloyd and Zane and then asked Jay on his way back to the infirmary, "Well considering you're feeling a lot better now what would you say to a night out?", "my treat" he added with a wink and a nudge.

"I was planning on going on Thursday night, the admission is cheaper" he laughed nervously as he awaited Jay's response.

"Yeah, why not…we're all single anyway, what's the worst that could happen? We all get shit faced" Jay bit his knuckle as he tried not to laugh.

"Or we get lucky, can't tell you how long it's been since I've had a girlfriend" Cole replied slightly embarassed at his own honesty "anyway it'll be good for us, call it a team bonding exercise."

"Yeah why not! it'll be fun so count me in" Jay replied enthusiastically.


	9. Time to party

Time for a night out

The four ninja had all got their best outfits on. Once they had primped and preened themselves to male perfection and had added a liberal dousing of their favourite aftershave they were ready to hit the town.

All of them wore jeans of some sort and their favourite coloured figure hugging t-shirt which did nothing to hide their impressive muscled torso's. They seemed to prefer the assigned colours even when not training, Zane being the exception to the rule.

"Right, so who's gonna be the designated driver erm….I mean the chaperone?" Kai asked and smirked as Zane raised his hand. He had a strong idea that it would likely be him, he never drank alcohol, too flammable apparently and a fire hazard within his delicate inner workings.

* * *

Jay, and his brothers arrived at the nightclub at 10pm, they paid for their entrance and proceeded to walk in after handing their jackets over. All 4 brothers went up onto the dance floor to find a good area to sit in that would accommodate all of them. Zane and Kai went to get drinks for everyone….mostly alcohol except for Zane who was to be the one in charge, he just had water.

Jay looked around the dimly lit club, he saw many people, lots of women and almost the same amount of men. He saw Kai come over with the drinks and took one giving him a wink.

They didn't really want to get up and dance after all 4 guys dancing together on the dance floor looked kind of odd or so Jay thought. They stayed in the booth and chatted loudly with the music blaring and alcohol flowing, after 2 hours of relaxing Jay got up to use the mens room when he looked across to his side and saw his nurse from the hospital standing on the dance floor in a tight almost pvc looking gold and blue dress.

Rihanna's song 'lightning' came on and she began walking towards him seductively. Jay thought back to the note she left him _what was her name again…oh yeah Skye_.

Jay felt a lump in his throat and swallowed as he took in her beauty after 2 weeks of not seeing her.

She was beyond beautiful, she was on fire and as she approached him with a twinkle in her eyes he then thought _she's all mine._ She called him over with her finger and they walked into a quieter part of the club where they found an empty booth.

Skye had deftly straddled Jay's hips and she couldn't keep her hands of him.

He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take, it took all of his willpower to control his bodily responses to this woman. They stayed in the booth for an hour before Skye offered him a choice he couldn't refuse.

"We could go back to mine", she whispered into his ear as she bit his earlobe.

"U….uh" Jay groaned, "w…..what, you wanna go n…now?"

"Yes" she mouthed as she kissed him again.

"O…..ok, let me go and tell my brothers".

Jay quickly left his private booth and went to search out one of his brothers, they were easy to find as they were all sitting around the table drinking and laughing except Zane.

"H….hey guys, I err…I'm gonna go now" Jay stammered as his heart felt like it was hammering out of his chest.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, where ya going dude?" Kai questioned.

"He's coming with me", said Skye as she appeared behind him.

"Back to my place, you can have him back later but we might be a few hours" as she blew a kiss in Kai's direction.

Cole and Kai both stared at Jay in shock and awe and then looked at the woman by his side, Cole was impressed that Jay had managed to pick up a girl so fast, then his attention was drawn to Kai who was still staring at the woman by Jays side. He kicked Kai under the table to break the eye contact earning the earth ninja a glare.

"Way to go Jay" Cole nodded in approvement.

"Have fun and phone me if ya need a lift back" he shouted to Jay as Skye led him out of the club.

* * *

Kai got up to get more drinks, he was getting a little tipsy as he never normally drank alcohol they didn't have the time, but he was enjoying himself too much to care about the after effects.

"What'll it be" the bartender asked.

"2 sake's please and a glass of water" Kai replied.

"Would you like to try something with more of a kick?"

"Yeah…yeah ok, what would you recommend?"

"A Sake bomb! it's made with the finest warmed Sake we offer, it's put into the beer and you drink it as soon as possible".

Kai was impressed "Yeah cool, let's go for that".

He walked back to the booth with the 3 drinks for his remaining brothers Cole, Zane and himself. Cole eyed the suspicious new drink and raised an eyebrow.

"What is this?…Kai" as he eyed the new beverage in his large hands.

"It's a Sake bomb, s…got a powerful kick…..hic" Kai stared in wonderment at the drink and promptly drank it down quickly savouring its taste and listening to the new song that came on Calvin Harris Eat, sleep, rave repeat. His eyes beginning to feel heavy but he was still ok. Zane scanned him after the sake bomb and concluded that Kai's body had reached its limit of alcohol consumption.

Cole followed suit and promptly downed his drink, he started to feel more relaxed as the effects of the previous drinks he'd had were starting to affect his body.

Zane looked on, making a mental note of what alcohol they had consumed and the amount of time it would take for it to be completely out of their systems before Sensei expected them to begin training and sparring again. Zane was tiring, he was just sat watching people gyrating on the dance floor with laser lights flashing everywhere and the constant thump of the bass was reverberating in his sound system.

The three remaining ninja's were approached by a group of young women who had noticed that they weren't dancing so they promptly upturned their hands and signalled them onto the dance floor. Zane had one girl dancing with him provocatively as he was attempting to show off his dancing skills in tune with the music. Kai had his eyes closed as he danced with a girl who just wanted to kiss him and touch his chest and spiky hair so he obliged even though he didn't know her name, he figured she was almost as drunk as he was.

Cole was dancing quite well, he had learned some dance moves from his dad Lou so he knew how to move his body effectively and he showed off his skills for maximum results. The effect was pretty impressive as the dance floor cleared around him and a few girls began to join in, one between his legs in front, one behind and one on his arm. He was pretty impressive to say the least.

When the song ended Zane shouted across to his brothers "We should really think about going soon, it is almost 3am and sensei will not appreciate seeing his students under the strong influence of alcohol."

"Well he wouldn't exactly be surprised would he?" Cole chortled, "I mean, he agreed to it right?"

"Yeah ok, Mr wet blanket!" Kai teased as he followed Zane and Cole back to the booth.

"I'll be right back, gotta use it" Cole muttered as he moved away from the booth, all he needed was to get up as his head was feeling fuzzy from the noise.

Cole had his head down and didn't see until it was too late as he bumped into the one and only Rose. His heart beat faster as he looked down into her eyes and registered who it was.

"R….Rose, I'm so so sorry, wasn't looking where I was going."

"Are you hurt" he questioned.

"Cole….I'm not hurt"

"It's so good to see you, I did wonder if you'd taken my advice to try out this little place."

"But now you're here, maybe we can get to know each other more personally" she said as she leaned in to him and rested her hands on his chest.

"So forward, different!" He mumbled but obliged her request.

They got onto the dance floor and stayed there for a good few songs unable to keep their wandering hands off each other, whilst gently gyrating around each other. They left the dance floor hand in hand and she gently pushed back towards the wall, where they continued to kiss. She began stroking his arms up to his shoulders and then back onto his chest, she kissed him deeply and Cole let out an earthly groan. She opened the exit door to the club which led to an alley way near some dumpsters outside. "Well it's quieter out here, at least" she said as she led Cole away from prying eyes, where she continued to kiss him on his neck and lips.

They were outside the club in an alleyway, fumbling like teenagers. He had her pushed up gently against the wall as he started to let his hands caress her curves.

Suddenly and without warning, a big muscular man tapped Cole's shoulder. He momentarily stopped kissing Rose as he slowly turned around to see who was behind him.

"Can I help you?" Cole turned around with his head cocked to the side expecting an answer to the reason for the uncalled for disturbance, his lips were somewhat plastered in lip-gloss and his eyes were a little glazed due to the excessive alcohol he had been consuming.

"Hey you can't just walk in to this club and claim the hotty for yourself." He sneered, outwardly testing the cornered man.

"Look we're busy here, just leave us alone, we're not hurting anyone" Cole said trying to control any anger that was threatening to come to the surface of his inebriated body.

"Fine, fine, we'll leave you alone…..with this" as the man abruptly swung a punch at an unsuspecting Cole. The punch connected with his jaw and caught Cole completely off guard as the hit sent him spiralling towards the floor.

"Ow, what the actual f**k was that for?" Cole spat, he winced when he tried to open his mouth wide. "What is your problem?" he asked as he spat some blood on to the floor in protest, he stood slightly unsteadily and took a sideways glance at the man who had caught him with a right hook.

"You can't kick us out, we've done nothing wrong" Cole shouted angrily and then remembered his jaw hurt when he tensed his face trying to maintain a menacing stare at the man.

"Fine, I tried to warn you…..have it your way" the man said, as 2 more men approached him and menacingly looked at Cole.

"L..look we don't want any trouble, we came here to dance and have a good time" Cole glared at all 3 of the men now surrounding him, like hyenas trapping a wounded animal. However what these men didn't realise was that the animal they were cornering was the elemental master of earth and in his inebriated state he was more powerful as he couldn't focus on controlling his element. Rose was still rooted to the spot, terrified at what was happening.

"Come on Cole, let's go" Rose pleaded with him, not liking where this new direction of events was heading.

"Not gonna happen darling, this douchebag has got it comin" One of the goons spoke.

"Yeah, he's gonna be taking a one way trip to the great dirt nap he he he" the other goon added.

Cole stood in his fighting stance as all 3 men surrounded him and motioned Rose to move away. One goon managed to grab Cole's arms as another delivered a blow into Cole's strong abdominal muscles, Cole was somewhat prepared for this following years of strengthening and training with Sensei Wu.

He caught another punch to the mouth which startled him and made Cole realise that he needed to act fast before he was beaten to a pulp.

He dodged the next punch which was aimed at his face again making it connect with the goon holding his arms behind him. Cole was good at hand to hand combat his strength was an added and hidden bonus.

He didn't need to use spinjitzu to get himself out of this predicament or reveal his true identity, he knew that he could take them on, just...he was still a little paraletic, not overly so, he could still stand.

Cole had let out a small laugh as the goon went down to the floor in a heap. Looking up gleefully into the eyes of the man who had the audacity to punch him twice in the mouth.

"My turn" Cole said as he raised his eyebrows with fury in his eyes, he wiped away some blood with the back of his hand whilst keeping his sight set on his target. He elbowed the other goon in his mouth whilst still maintaining eye contact with the man who started it.

"Although, I gotta say I did warn ya, you guys got a death wish or somethin and this is one fight you're not gonna win" Cole stated as he looked menacingly into the eyes of his attacker as he delivered the final punch to knock him out cold.

He caught the man with an upper cut to his chin and he too went down fast.

* * *

Cole took Rose's hand and led her away from the scene, when they were safely away from the alley Rose hugged him tightly.

"Let's go to my place, it' only 1 block away and we can get you cleaned up there" she said as she looked into his weary eyes, she was aware of the bruising now starting to show on the side of his jaw and could sense he was on the verge of passing out due to the late hour, alcohol and his impromptu beating.

"Those guys really did a number on you" Rose said as she looked at Cole with concern.

"No, its not that", "I...argh" his jaw began aching, making Cole lose his train of thought, "I wasn't expecting it, that's all" He rubbed his jaw and draped his free arm around Rose's waist.

"Me and my brothers, well...we're trained in certain forms of martial art, soooo... when we face an opponent or adversary we prepare ourselves...y'know mind and body" Cole stated.

"I had no idea", Rose said with an excited expression "that probably explains why you're so strong and buff, she added with a giggle as she swiftly reached around and grabbed his butt.

"I live here Cole" she motioned to the apartment complex behind her as she pulled Cole in for a deep kiss. He sat on the 3 foot high wall outside the apartments while she attempted to straddle his hips and continue the kiss, she fumbled in her bag with one free hand then pulled out of the kiss and whispered let's continue this upstairs.

Cole quickly got his phone out and texted Zane to let him know he wouldn't be home for a few hours and not to wait for him, he then stood up and took Rose's hand as she led him up the stairs to her apartment.

* * *

Zane got Cole's message and decided now would be a good time to leave as he begrudgingly lifted a woozy Kai up and walked him out of the club into the cool crisp night air.

Kai was not particularly heavy compared to Cole but he was a dead weight due to being completely under the influence of alcohol and unable to coordinate his limbs.

The fire master would have unknowingly walked into every obstacle and done himself serious injury if Zane wasn't there to help. Of course he had to contend with flailing limbs as he juggled Kai's weight onto his shoulder in preparation for the Bounty's ladder ascent. He eventually managed to get Kai onto the Bounty after one battery bar had depleted and then finally, into the sleeping quarters.

He gently lay him on to his own bed with his clothes still on and placed a large glass of water and a pain relief tablet next to him as he knew that alcohol had a dehydrating effect on the entire body. He clicked the light off and lay down himself his last thoughts before sleep were of Jay and Cole.


	10. Feelings and regrets

**A few hours later**

Back on the Bounty Zane was in the kitchen preparing blueberry pancakes and strong coffee; the late night having little to no effect on the elemental master of ice he was busy trying to cheer everyone up on board this dull and grey morning.

Lloyd had opted to stay on board with his mother when his brothers had gone out for the night, he had things to do, he needed to focus. PIXAL had replied to the message whilst the ninja were at the night club and had managed to give some helpful information that Misako might be able to use. She had taken the time to explain this information to Zane in the early morning which included details of the rumoured weapon. According to PIXAL the weapon had been created by Cyrus Borg when he was under the control of the overlord, it was, for want of a better word...a torture device and meant for hurting any nindroids who stepped out of line. The thought of this device being used on either of them made both Zane and PIXAL shudder. She noted that the weapon had been stolen by General Cryptor and tampered with in some way. She sent across details of new files that were on the old server relating to amendments that had been made to the weapon which altered its initial purpose. She worriedly explained that as of 3 weeks ago it had found its way into the hands of Pythor. The weapon had been recently reprogrammed to detect electricity in large amounts. Zane pondered this information for a millisecond until he realised that his powersource wasn't the desired target, it was in fact Jay. Before she ended the call with Zane she also mentioned what the weapon was called.

"Zane it is an electromagnetic field generator, it is meant to cause the nindroid a level of pain that their circuits cannot contain causing them to switch off and reset, however, in Jay's case...I...I do not know...I'm sorry Zane."

"Thank you PIXAL at least we have something to go on now...you are still coming over tonight I assume"

"Yes Zane, I will be with you in the afternoon...I have missed you"

"Likewise" Zane said "I look forward to your visit".

* * *

Jay had been the first to arrive back on board at 9am following his night with Skye and was soon followed by Cole at 9:30am, both gave each other a wink as they sat down at the table.

"Ahh glad to see you back Cole and Jay, I take it a good night was had by all?" Zane questioned as he served up the pancakes whilst looking into Cole's eyes.

"Although, Cole I notice that you do not look to be in the best of health at this moment, you look…." Zane tapped his head looking for the right word "Drained".

"Pfffttt, yeah you could say that" Kai snickered loudly and ran off in a fit of laughter with a plate full of pancakes. The humour going right over Zane's head.

"Wow he's recuperated pretty fast, I was sure he would have had a headache or something" Cole stared after him.

Nya shook her head and stated "Think about it...he's a fire elemental, fire needs fuel and...hello alcohol...he's buzzing, he'd climb the walls if he could" as she tried to cosy up to Cole. Cole shifted uncomfortably he hadn't told Nya of his night with Rose, he couldn't she'd be devastated...the perfect match told her that he was the one, he did prefer Rose though after all he went all the way with her last night which was something he hadn't even done with Nya and the thought at the moment didn't even enter his mind. Nya ate quickly and went to find Kai noting the cold shoulder she was getting from Cole meant she was wasting her time trying to talk to him...he clearly had something else on his mind.

Jay nodded in agreement and tried some humour on Cole when Nya had left the room "I heard that the earth moved for you last night" Jay joked teasingly as he nudged Cole in the ribs "did she ROCK your world" Jay giggled as he tried to stifle his laughter..."No,no,no wait I can do better...Did she quake in her boots when you dropped your pants...pffftttt hahahahahahahahaha" Jay couldn't help himself he was fighting a fit of giggles over his own wit.

"Yeah yeah thanks for that...hilarious" Cole hollered as he quickly countered Jay's sharp wit.

"Take it your night was electrifying as well… Jay", "Was she the spark that lit your engine?" "One more...was she shocked at your lovemaking technique?" Cole said as he glugged a large amount of hot coffee into his mouth...Jay immediately began laughing. "Touche, lame but touche" Cole spat his drink out before he chocked on it as he too was suppressing laughter. Both ninjas fell of the breakfast bench onto the floor and giggled, Zane walked through on his way to the control room" I do not see what is so funny about mocking each other in this way".

"Hey Zane...turn on your humour switch" Cole shouted after him.

"Thanks for last night Cole, I really enjoyed it, honestly!", "I left early if 1am is considered early but you know what! it was still great and hey you finally got to meet Skye!".

"Yeah…..about that Jay", "what do you mean by finally, have you seen her before?"

"Yeah, you could say that!" Jay blushed as he knew he would have to divulge the truth sooner or later

"She was my night nurse and during my last 2 nights at the hospital…we…..err….well we had...err...sex….mind blowing...orgasm inducing sex".

"We got caught though hehe, 2 nights before I left and I was k'now inside her when they busted the door down".

"It was soooooooooo embarrassing, Skye almost lost her job she was moved to another ward…lucky me cos she still came and visited me on the last night".

"WHOA…Jay, how come I'm only finding out about this now!, we're supposed to be best friends ya know".

"Yeah….I know and I'm kinda sorry I didn't tell ya, but now ya know so there".

"You lucky thing…you got yourself a naughty nurse…y'know most men fantasize about that sort of thing…well Kai does I'm sure" Cole teased, "But hang on…..the doctor said no strenuous exercise, cardio and so on, and err isn't sex…well the type I'm used to considered strenuous?"

"No….well yes sort of….I mean she knew what she was doing" I didn't have to do much…except…. Well….. you know, the main bit!".

"Well… I'm just glad you enjoyed your night out Jay,it was nice to meet Skye briefly and she's a nurse too so a double thumbs up from me" Cole added.

"But no problem sparky, happy to oblige, besides it's not every day we're allowed to do this sort of thing and when Wu returns we won't be able to do it at all…according to him we're poisoning our bodies". Cole laughed.

* * *

Out on the deck Lloyd and Nya were sparring against each other as Misako watched on from inside the control room, she was studying the scales they had collected a few days prior. She had managed to find out which snakes were involved in the impromptu attack, this was just to back up what they already knew. The initial security footage wasn't clear enough to distinguish which serpentine generals were present but the scales she had gave a clearer picture that it was an Anacondrai tribe, so she deduced Pythor and a Hynobrai tribe which gave her Skales. These 2 snakes were obviously the ring leaders in this attack but why? Misako carried on trying to look back over the security footage that the Bounty captured on the day of the attack, before contacting Borg industries and leaving a message for PIXAL to call back as soon possible. Maybe PIXAL could explain what the weapon was as up until now no-one on board knew the answer to this and time was running out.

Kai was in the infirmary having his stitches removed painlessly by Zane as they were due to be removed anyway but he couldn't be bothered to travel back to the clinic to have them removed when Zane was perfectly capable of doing it on board. His skills were second to none, so much so that Kai thought if Zane ever retired from being a ninja he could become a surgeon…..or nurse.

Jay was busy in his inventing room and was trying to create some type of tracking device that all the ninja could wear, something discreet which could be worn close to the body without being detected. Zane had been interested in helping him and assisted Jay with finishing up the devices before handing one out to each and every member, the purpose of them was obvious they were to be worn if the ninja were due to go on patrol around the city; their own coloured beacons would be visible to the Bounty and each member would be able to keep in contact by relaying short messages.

* * *

After a few hours had passed Jay walked to his shared dormitory, he was damned if he was going to be sleeping alone in the infirmary again. He opened the door and settled into his own bed _ahhh perfect_ he thought "maybe just a little nap, inventing things is tiring" he said to himself as he closed his eyes.

Zane was looking for him as he had the last of his medications to take signalling the end of his treatment, he had looked almost everywhere for him, but then realised he might just be in his own bed. Zane cautiously opened the door to the shared sleeping quarters and was surprised but happy to see Jay in his own bunk. He approached him and sat down on his bed to gently rouse him as lunch was being cooked by Kai but the second he touched him Zane flew across the room with an ear piercing shriek. Jay woke up and looked around to see what had awoken him from his nap only to find Zane on the floor still with his eyes closed and behind his body was a perfect imprint of his nindroid brother on the wooden wall. Zane had hit the wall so hard he had temporarily lost consciousness or more precisely he powered off.

Jay jumped off his bed and slowly walked over to Zane to shake him awake, he didn't even know what had happened up until then, had no recollection of Zane even being in the room. Jay touched Zane on his arm and involuntarily shocked him, of course Jay didn't realise what he was doing or what he had done and he was completely oblivious to the amount of voltage he had just transferred. It was similar to being tasered and Zane still didn't wake.

Nya, Cole and Kai burst into the room following the loud bang and saw Zane on the floor and Jay next to him. They wanted answers from Jay being as he was the only one in the room with Zane.

Nya was the first to speak" Jay what happened in here?"

"Err I don't know, I was SLEEPING" he stated a little too sarcastically, earning him a disgruntled look from Nya.

"Look Jay I know you're hiding something from us, so just spit it out" Nya said with a look of impatience beginning to appear on her normally calm face.

Nya stood up and walked over to Jay and touched his shoulder and tried to relieve the tension that was building however that didn't go to plan as she was forcefully thrown across the room with the equivalence of an electric shock. Cole instinctively caught her before she could hit the wall.

"What the fuck Jay! what did you do to my sister? First Zane and now Nya" Kai shouted in distress as he saw his sister lying unconscious in Cole's arms. He was almost ready to punch Jay in the jaw for this attack as he was known to have a fiery temper.

"Stay the fuck away from her, you weirdo" Kai said although not meaning it as it came out before he could take it back.

"Jay back away now", Cole glared at the lightning ninja and asked "What did you do to to Zane...Zaptrap?"

"N….nothing, I swear I did nothing honest… hehe" Jay backed up against the wall as all eyes in the room felt like they were burning a hole into his soul, Kai's words had cut deep, he wasn't a weirdo... _how insulting can you get_ Jay thought.

Cole opened the front panel under Zane's gi and checked to see if any button had been switched off, Jay squinted and noticed that power button was in the off position. _Whatever happened must have tripped his switch to off_ Jay thought as he attempted to help, he didn't like feeling that all his clan were looking at him wearily and with a distinct sense of distrust. Jay walked across the room and said "look I think his power switch is off" he went to switch it back on but the sudden touch caused Zane's body to shudder violently. "Jay….stop…just stop touching him, stop touching anyone….for Fucks sake" Lloyd shouted as he was getting flustered at the scene unfolding in front of him.

"B…..but I was trying to help" he pouted indignantly before running out of the room and onto the deck.

He rested his elbows on the deck edges and looked down at the streets below, underneath the ship that he called home. At that moment he felt sad, alone and useless, he knew he was to blame for what had happened but he didn't actually know what happened….he sighed and felt tears prickle his eyes until they escaped freely down his face "what have I done?" he said to himself. His alarm beeped on his phone and disturbed his feelings of woe as he realised he had an appointment at the facility in 30 minutes, he didn't think that anyone would want him around anyway after what had just happened so he quickly disappeared of the Bounty before anyone noticed.

* * *

Both Nya and Zane had woken up after 5 minutes, Nya had a headache and Zane was fully energised. "That was unexpected" Zane stated as he got up of the floor "I must remember to thank Jay for this impromptu power surge he provided me with", "speaking of which where is he?" Zane asked "I need to apologise, I sense that Jay did not mean to do this"…"I….I disturbed him as he was sleeping".

"Sorry Zane we thought he did this on purpose...omg what have we done?" Kai looked beside himself with guilt as did Nya.

Cole looked at Kai who then looked at Nya, "Come on guys we gotta find him" Cole stood up quickly and left the room.

All the remaining ninja on board including Misako were thoroughly searching the ship and 10 minutes had passed before they admitted defeat,"Well where is he?" Cole asked as he put his hands on his hips.

Zane scanned the entire ship before responding "I sense he is no longer on the ship".

"WHAT!, what do you mean NOT on the ship?" Cole looked shocked as he processed this new information. Nya, Lloyd and Kai all looked guilty as they looked down, realising what they had done. Shouting at Jay probably wasn't the best idea in the world but at the time it seemed the only thing to do.

"Great...that's just Fucking great, y'know what fuck it all to hell, we ALL heard what Sensei Wu said and now this….great team we are" Cole huffed as he turned away from his team in anger. He stormed outside onto the deck to swing a rather earth shattering blow at the hanging punch bag, he hit it so hard the shackles broke and the bag went flying overboard,Cole sighed. Kai followed him outside "W….wait! h...he can't have gone far and doesn't Jay have an appointment today? maybe he decided to go it alone!" Kai said hopefully as Zane, Lloyd and Misako came onto the deck.

"The point IS…Kai, he wasn't supposed to be ALONE, did everyone on here forget that little nugget of information" Cole snapped again.

"Right….look….whatever….Kai we gotta go and find him", "This is the last thing we need right now".

"Nya you and Zane stay on board with Misako and us 3 will go on foot to Jay's destination where ever that is" Cole said.

"Zane, keep us updated if any new information comes to light and Kai go and get the details of this facility, address, phone number that sort of thing" Cole finished…. _I got a bad feeling about this_ he thought.


	11. This could be bad!

Jay walked away from the bounty, he didn't run as there was no point and he didn't want to waste his energy. He was fighting a mixture of emotions as his brain tried to figure out what had just happened.

 _There was no need for Nya to shout at him and then Kai...Kai called him a weirdo with a look of hatred and distrust in his eyes that just simply said get away from her or I'll kill you._

 _He didn't know what to do, he felt alone and dangerous...that's it!_

 _He was dangerous to be_ around he thought.

He didn't want to leave the Bounty unless he had to and he sure as hell didn't want to move back in with his parents at the junk yard, he'd had enough of the Sea of Sand being that he'd grown up there, he didn't relish the thought of going back unless it was to see his parents.

As he walked, he had his head down. He was looking intently at his phone as he followed directions, he systematically kept checking for messages from the Bounty, he sighed when he found none then quickly returned the phone back to the navigation function before he got lost.

He wasn't far from the facility according to the map; it was within 500 feet of his current position.

Jay wandered around the outskirts of New Ninjago city the area he was in was almost deserted, there was hardly anyone around.

Casually he kept looking looking down at his phone as it directed him left and right, looking for this supposed facility he was due to attend. He was running out of ideas until he stumbled upon a small looking warehouse with a odd looking brick building attached to its side.

It was exactly as the doctor had described it as being in the middle of nowhere but close enough to the city. Although he frowned at the 'state of the art' comment the doctor has also mentioned.

Jay shuddered when he looked at the building hoping it wasn't the one that he needed. He approached it with caution and at the same time saw 2 figures walking towards it.

"Err hi, excuse me...I'm err looking for this address, do ya know where it is" Jay asked as he showed one of the hooded figures the address he had been given.

"It'sss right there" As the hooded figure pointed to the small dilapidated warehouse.

"Thanks" Jay mumbled as he approached the building, _good timing...Jay...5 minutes early_ he thought as he checked his watch.

 _Wow the doctor couldn't have afforded a better facility huh?_ Jay thought, "hope it's better on the inside" he said out loud to himself.

Meanwhile in the city Cole, Kai and Lloyd were following the Bounty's remote navigational system, this was guiding them to the address of the facility where Jay should be. The three ninja were 20 minutes away from the actual destination so Cole had decided it would be a good idea to do some exercise such as running, for the remainder, begrudgingly, they followed suit.

* * *

The master of lightning had walked through the electric doors of the brick building and stated his name to the receptionist who promptly gave him a questionnaire and disclaimer to complete.

Once he had finished he handed it back and waited. 10 minutes had passed before Dr Raa appeared from one of the side doors and motioned Jay to follow him through to the examination room.

Jay followed and promptly jumped onto the examination bed so the doctor could begin, he started by doing a thorough examination of his breathing sounds and heart rate. Dr Raa checked his blood pressure, and thien connected the Echo cardio gram or ECG machine for five minutes to trace heart sounds and strength of each heart chamber and relevant arteries.

"How long is this going to take?" Jay asked feeling slightly frustrated like he had been there for hours.

"It will take as long as we need it to" The doctor answered without eye contact.

"Who's we?" Jay asked incredulously, "As far as I was concerned this was a quick check-up not a full on examination" he finished, getting noticeably annoyed by the doctor who was prodding and poking him for no apparent reason.

The doctor then looked up at Jay and stared into his grey eyes, he swallowed and pulled back away from the doctors face as he felt the doctor's eyes boring into his soul, the doctor stood and approached Jay; standing within a few inches of him and hissed "follow me".

Jay was sure that this was supposed to be a pleasant experience or so he thought...He looked at the doctor for reassurance and then saw something in those eyes that looked evil, he felt a sense of foreboding and wanted to leave the facility and never come back.

But being the good patient he dutifully followed the doctor through to the other room and sat on the chair solemnly. He looked around hopefully to see other patients but none could be found... _odd_ he thought.

The doctor pulled a chair out and said none too politely "Sit" his professional demeanor slipping somewhat. The doctor put a tight tourniquet around Jay's lean defined upper arm and proceeded to take numerous vacutainers of blood from him, the majority were large and some very small.

"Sheesh h….how many do ya need to t….take doc, leave some for m…me hey!" Jay had lost count of how many the doctor was taking, the last count being about 12 and he was beginning to feel sick.

"I'm sorry Mr Walker just 1 more, we need plenty of this as it could provide an answer to your miraculous recovery and help other individuals in need". The doctor knew what he was doing he had studied the human body in intricate detail in particular blood letting and what pain the body can endure.

"F…..fine….j…just get on with it" Jay spat, he was beginning to shiver and could feel his colour leaving his face. He began to feel like he'd donated blood, when in fact he had actually lost almost 1 litre in those few short minutes he was sitting there.

The doctor removed the tourniquet then turned away and went to the opposite side of the room with his back to Jay he opened a cupboard and retrieved a glass bottle and cloth.

"Can I go now Doc?,this is getting ridiculous" Jay whined as he rolled his eyes looking at his watch.

The doctor did not answer his question but looked to his side at the door where 2 male nurses were about to enter, he slowly nodded to them to allow them to come in. They immediately walked over to Jay and grabbed his arms before he could attempt to escape.

"HEY WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS" Jay hissed, wriggling in their tight grip, "LET...GO...OF...ME" he shouted in sheer frustration at being unnecessarily restrained, considering he was doing nothing wrong.

 _Wow they're strong...different tactic me thinks! but I wonder if they can do spinjitzu,_ he thought.

He attempted to stand and get into his fighting stance by lurching himself forwards, his plan was to get out of their vice like grip until of course...he was forcibly yanked back into his chair quite viciously by the two nurses. Jay looked scared, he had tried to use his element to protect himself but nothing happened….

 _Odd_ he thought _surely this place can't be made of vengestone_.

"Hey, g-go...e...easy...guys...I'm a paying patient ya know" Jay said as he tried to put on a brave face as his head began swaying.

"Well, Mr JAY Walker...or the blue ninja as you're otherwise known...this isn't a medical facility...no, no, no we do much more than medical research here" he laughed as he looked at the restrained blue ninja and registered the look of shock on his face as he took in everything the doctor was saying.

"Vengestone walls...yessss I did my research...have I got your attention now...Jay?"

Jay looked angry "This was a setup, you...you planned this from the day I left the hospital!" He struggled again with the two nurses holding him still.

"What do you want with me?, gahh GET OFF MY ARMS" Jay roared, "If this is a ruse to get me to talk then I wont tell you anything!" Trying his luck at what remaining fight he still had despite his current situation, he had to, he had no choice.

"We don't want you to talk, we want you to shut up" the doctor replied sarcastically "and we want to take your power, you don't need it...really"".

"W-what?...y-you can't" he shook his head as he spoke, visibly trembling at what he was hearing "you won't get away with this...m-my brothers will find you and kick your asses into next year" he said only half believing it.

He suddenly remembered what transpired on the Bounty less than an hour ago... _oh crap...my tracker device...it's on my bed...they don't even know I'm here...I'm screwed_ he thought.

Jay attempted to stand again and tried to headbutt one of the 2 nurses holding him but this didn't go as planned, the male nurses yanked him back harshly and then took it in turns to punch him in his abdomen. It worked, it subdued him effectively.

It was safe to say that Jay was not expecting that, as all his breath came whistling out from between his teeth, he grunted harshly and squeezed his eyes shut tightly, he tried to concentrate on his breathing although the pain made it hard. The assault had left him in a crouched position on his chair to protect his stomach from further blows.

 _C-come on Jay c-compose yourself, we gotta get out of here_ he thought as pain wracked his stomach.

He looked up with pleading eyes at the doctor he had trusted with his life, the doctor however showed no remorse as he approached him with the chloroform infused cloth. "I...I trusted y-you" he wheezed painfully, the pain still there from being winded brutally.

The doctor unperturbed, slapped him across his face, it startled the blue ninja and his eyes shot upwards.

"You are foolish...ninja of lightning" he hissed.

"Y….you're snakes?", Jay shouted as he realised, "it was your kind that shot me, y-you did this to me...b-but why?" he asked as he spat out some blood that had pooled in his mouth, he couldn't wipe his mouth with his hand so had to rely on his shoulder.

"Seriously if you let me go now, we'll go easy on you" Jay stated as his solid determination still came through.

* * *

He had been stuck in this room for over 30 minutes now but he couldn't move, he was being held down but two male nurses who seemed to have amazing strength and an aptitude for being brutal.

At one stage one of them had pulled Jay's head up by his hair so hard, it felt like he'd been scalped...of course he hadn't though, He knew they were trying to get into his head, mind games or something and they were succeeding at it, he was almost broken.

Jay was paralyzed with fear, he felt dizzy, hungry as he's missed lunch and in pain both physically and mentally...

 _I am useless, I can't even do this right_ he thought.

He hoped with all of his heart that his brothers would be looking for him and would come to his rescue before anything else could happen that is until the doctor stood in front of him, a cloth in one hand and a large needle in the other.

The 2 nurses still had a hold on his arms which were starting to feel numb because of the pressure of holding him down and his constant attempts at escape.

"Jay, this needle contains a general anaesthetic….it isss a synthetic ssssubstance that will keep you sedated for well….about 30 minutes or so, after that…well lets just sssay you'll beg for the end" The doctor sneered at Jay and watched as the blue ninja stared in fear at the needle and what he'd just heard.

 _Oh god, come on guys I really need you_ Jay thought as he eyed the big needle approaching him.

The doctor lowered himself in front of Jay and gave the needle to the nurse to administer who roughly punctured Jay's right arm with it. Jay winced and tried to pull away as he began to feel a stinging sensation.

Time was not on the doctors side as he figured people would come looking for Jay soon, so he delivered a final blow to the blue ninja's jaw before putting the chloroform infused cloth over his mouth and nose until he went completely limp.

The doctor promptly left the room and cleaned himself up, he removed his prosthetic mask and contact lenses, both items were disposed of it in the incinerator, the prosthetic mask and lenses did an amazing job of hiding his snakelike features. When he had finished hiding his alter ego he called Pythor and Skales to notify them that Jay was ready for the machine.

"I've prepped him for the machine general, he's sedated so he'll be easier to manouvre and the anaesthetic I've given should last at least an hour."

"Good, good...yesss thank you Slithraa, we'll be there in 5 minutes".

* * *

10 minutes later the three ninja had finally made it to the facility but they were all out of breath as they had been running non stop.

"Yknow... it...would... have... been...a...lot...quicker...if...we'd...used...the...tracking...devices" Lloyd stated as he panted out of breath.

"Hey...green...machine...we're...not...on...patrol...though" Kai replied as he panted harshly bending down to fill his lungs with oxygen and soothe the lactic acid burn in his muscles.

"Well...I brought mine with me" Cole stated as he composed himself, "me...too" said Lloyd wiping his brow free of sweat as he leaned on the Elemental master of fire.

"Actually" Cole stated "it would have been quicker on our elemental dragons", "whose bright idea was it to run anyway?" Cole asked.

"Yours" both Lloyd and Kai replied.

"Oh yeah...sorry hehe" Cole laughed and shrugged his shoulders, he didn't care...he wasn't out of breath at all.

"Is this the place then?...doesn't look much like a 'state of the art' facility to me!" Cole asked looking astounded at the dilapidated building in front of him.

"Let's go and find out" said Lloyd.

The 3 ninja walked into the facility which looked better on the inside, they slowly shuffled one by one into the empty waiting room whilst Kai walked up to the reception desk and got the attention of the receptionist.

"Hi…..hang on…whew" as Kai regained his composure, "we're here to pick up a Mr Walker" he had an appointment about 25 minutes ago".

"Let me just check our records" the receptionist nervously stated whilst adjusting her glasses. "Please take a seat, I'm sure Mr Walker will be finished soon".

Kai joined Cole and Lloyd on the sofas as they watched the tv in the room, they had been sat for a while waiting patiently for 30 minutes,until Cole realised that in total Jay had been here for over an hour already and this was only supposed to be a checkup. Cole frowned and stood up, he approached the desk again and rang the bell, Kai and Lloyd were completely relaxed wondering what had gotten into the earth master. "Well...where is Jay Walker? And why is this taking so long" Cole shouted as his eyes were burning into the back of the receptionists head.

"I'll err go and check for you", she squeaked and walked off closing the door securely behind her with a loud click.

"I need some fresh air" Lloyd sighed "this place is boring and the smell of paint is giving me a headache".

He got up to leave the room but found the door locked, "errr guys….somethings not quite right here!" he stated as he tried again to open the door.

"Well it looks like we're locked in" Kai stated in shock, he tried to use his element to melt the lock to no avail. "Wait...what! Why can't I use my element, what is going on here" Kai looked at Cole puzzled.

"Vengestone" Lloyd stated as he looked at the newly painted walls "this is no facility….this was planned...oh my god it was a setup" He sat with his head in his hands unsure what to do.

"J...Jay, what have you done to Jay?" Kai shouted as he banged repeatedly on the walls.

"WHAT! WHAT THE HELL, WHERE'S JAY? LET US OUTTA HERE" Cole shouted as he beat his fists on the doors of the facility.

Unbeknownst to the ninja at that time was the appearance of a noxious gas cloud coming from under the doors. The ninja all sat down in defeat but didn't realise until it was too late. The same gas used by dentists to sedate patients was being used on the ninja as they stood and hammered on the walls with their fists.

"I...er dont feel so good" Kai stated as he stumbled and fell to his knees "Kai!", Cole quickly rushed to his side to catch him before he hit the floor "Kai what's wrong?", "I think they are trying to sedate us" Kai said as his eyes closed. Cole looked for Lloyd who was slumped against a chair... _a soft landing at least_ Cole thought before he too lost consciousness.

* * *

 **This was my first fanfic, I'm still going back through it and cringing at the grammar and punctuation hehe**


	12. This could be bad part 2

Dr Raa's facility

The underground part of the facility was accessed by a rickety old elevator which would have seemed more suited to an old hotel from a horror movie. The lift on its downward journey would occasionally bump onto the walls surrounding it.

Once the doors were opened it was revealed to be a large dark cavernous room; a cave in previous years but now with medium sized tunnels leading to and from it.

The middle of the cave had a multitude of generators lined up, they were all connected in close proximity to a makeshift cage similar to a tesla coil but bigger….much bigger.

The cage was made almost entirely of copper and had a large spherical metal electrode positioned on top which was meant to transfer any energy away into the waiting empty generators. Inside of the makeshift cage were 4 restraints made from leather and copper which meant that whoever was put in here wouldn't be escaping quickly.

The aim of this crude machine, according to Pythor, was to produce high voltage energy from low currents, something that would power the serpentine tombs for years to come. All that was needed was a certain blue ninja and then the show could begin.

* * *

"Well…well…well Slithraa, you have done usss proud" Skales said as he smiled at one of his most loyal warriors "I love what you've done with the place" as Skales eyed the generators with awe.

"I admit, it wasn't easy sssir trying to maintain this façade, the hospital hours were long and tedioussss".

"Yes I can imagine...where is the prisoner" Skales asked seeming completely disinterested in Slithraa's difficulty.

"He is upstairs sleeping…the other ninja are too" Slithraa laughed, "They came to rescue him so we knocked them out with gas".

"Ahh excellent so our plan is working just as we hoped it would".

"Yes sir…I hope I have served you well" Slithraa added before he turned around to assist with the transportation of the sleeping ninja.

"These three ninja need taking to Pythors's lair, he has setup some shackles on the wall, take them now before they wake up" Slithraa said quietly to his snake brethren who followed his orders without question.

"This means we won't need to set any traps" Skales hissed gleefully as he turned to his side and noticed the Anacondrai general slithering towards him.

"Pythor!" Skales said happily as his partner in crime joined them "it's time, we need to get this started".

The group of serpentine worked together to bring down the blue ninja, taking care not to injure him as they strapped him into the cage. He was still under the effects of a general anaesthetic so he hung in his restraints painfully even though he was oblivious. The other ninja were bound and brought downstairs before being taken on a short journey to the serpentine tomb. Once there the snakes had been told to secure all 3 ninja to the wall of Pythor's cave with the vengestone cuffs he had recently acquired.

* * *

It didn't take long for the ninja to wake up completely once they were in the serpentine tomb, the air was stale but at least it wasn't tainted with gas. They were all coming round to their new surroundings and when they opened their eyes they knew Jay was in danger.

"W…what happened?...Cole are you ok" Kai asked feeling nervous, the feelings of nausea still fresh in his throat.

"Y…Yeah,I'm fine….where are we?...Lloyd you ok?"

"Yeah, just tired" Lloyd said as he attempted to stifle a long loud yawn.

"I'm scared…..scared for Jay, scared for us" Lloyd stammered as he struggled against the restraints that were digging into his wrists.

"Hey err guys, this looks familiar…I think this is a serpentine tomb if I'm not mistaken" Kai said as he studied the cave and various markings he could see.

"But what do they want with Jay?" Kai asked, feeling annoyed at Sensei Wu who should have divulged more information before he left.

"I….I don't know ok! but I think we'll find out soon enough" Cole stated as he pointed with his head towards the middle of the room, "look there in the middle is another set of restraints….but there's only 3 of us down here...OH GOD NO…...I think I know what they are planning to do", as soon as Cole said those words the colour drained from his face and he proceeded to vomit onto the floor as fear threatened to overtake him.

"No no no….. they couldn't , they wouldn't surely" Cole said aloud to himself panicking again as sweat starting to bead on his head.

"Cole, what's wrong? What do you know that…."Kai trailed off as the realisation hit him too and he fought harder than ever to escape.

"Look we need to calm down guys...struggling wont help but we need to reserve our energy...I have a feeling we'll need it" Lloyd stated calmly.

Cole then thought of a way to get out of this situation without Jay or themselves being harmed "Hey listen up guys….can you remember earlier Jay and Zane created the trackers…well we can use them to communicate!...just….need to activate….it" Cole said as he used his chin to press the device causing it to activate.

"Zane, come in Zane, do you copy?, This is Cole we need urgent assistance".

Cole waited for a response and luckily there was one albeit a crackled and distorted one.

"h-han…Cole…that you?"

"Ah the depth we're at must be affecting the signal…hopefully they'll move the Bounty closer to our signal now" Lloyd said.

"C….. in Cole…..is that you?".

"That was definitely Nya", Kai said feeling hopeful.

"Th…..signal…weak….moving…..your location, We'll be there….50 minutes" Zane said with a crackle.

"Well at least we can kinda understand what they said now" Lloyd stated again.

The minutes passed and the ninja were growing tired, Kai tried to keep the morale up and spoke about the night club…taunting Cole with the fact that he missed out on some good dance tunes.

"Where did you go anyway?…one minute you were at the club and the next you'd gone" Kai asked with a puzzled expression.

"Omg, were you really that drunk Kai?,it was only last night bro…besides I told you…..didn't I?...no come to think of it...I told Zane that I wouldn't be home".

"I bumped into Rose...literally...at the club, she's the one that told me about it….y'know back in the hospital?".

"I don't remember last night all too well Cole, except the fact Jay bailed on me with a hot chick and you just disappeared leaving me and tinman alone" Kai said as he shuffled uncomfortably in his restraints.

"Remind me again, what did she look like?"

"Who?" Cole asked looking puzzled.

"Err…Rose!"

"Why do you need to know?….you're not planning on stealing her are ya?"

"No Cole, that's your trick" Kai laughed nervously and bit his lip although he knew that was actually what he'd tried to do with Nya.

"FINE, She's got blue eyes, red-ish coloured hair, she has freckles, luscious lips, long legs, ample..." He stopped mid-sentence… _too much information_ he thought…and blushed as he turned away. His thoughts now taken up as an image of Rose came into his mind. He shook his head, he couldn't think about that now he needed to focus and he needed to get his team out of here.

"Sheesh Cole, wow get a room with your thoughts will ya" Lloyd interjected

"Sorry Lloyd, but Kai asked" Cole replied as he shrugged his aching shoulders.

All three ninja turned their heads when they heard a shriek of pain, that they knew to be from Jay.

"Oh god, come on Zane please" Kai said as had his fingers crossed hoping that the Bounty would just magically appear in the room and whisk them away. _Maybe then we could fight evenly and not be a part of this outnumbered dirty tactic that the snakes are currently using_ he thought.

* * *

30 minutes earlier

Back in the facility generator room Jay had been strapped into the machine, his arms and legs cuffed tightly to avoid escape. Slithraa pulled the lever and the whole room lit up. The machine began buzzing while electrical currents were being generated from the cage. A multitude of different colours could be seen bouncing off the cage and the generators were connected to it. Each machine was filling up quickly and one after another a green light would switch on signifying a full and charged generator.

30 minutes had passed and there were only 3 empty generators left. The blue ninja was beginning to stir, his pained sleep was filled with nightmares of blood being taken, strong nurses and an evil plan. He groggily opened his eyes and immediately realised he was in trouble. He subconsciously tried to move his arms and then his legs and looked around only to realise he was strapped in and wasn't going anywhere.

The panic in him slowly rising even though he was feeling sleepy but this sleepy feeling was getting worse he couldn't fall asleep again...he didn't dare to...for some reason.

He was feeling constant pulses of energy being taken from him but couldn't understand why then he remembered back to the snake doctor and his eyes suddenly registered his situation, he pulled against his restraints and shouted loudly at his captors, the serpentine just stood by watching him and started laughing.

He was beginning to feel pain as if something was being ripped from within his core. _My element...y-you can't_ he thought as he screwed his eyes tight and bucked against the increasing pain he was fighting.

"I h-hate you, I hate you all" Jay screamed in agony as he felt electrical currents attacking his skin, his element almost gone. The pain he felt was similar to that which his enemies would feel, the only difference was this was a constant and worsening pain...not enough to kill him but enough to cause intense pain.

"Come on Skales this is getting boring, can't you just turn up the machine so it can go faster?" Pythor asked as he rolled his eyes.

"Yes, yes, yes ok, Slithraa I need you to hurry this up...we haven't got all day".

"Yess sir, I'll get right on it" Slithraa added as he span around and turned the dial to speed up the electrical current. The cage began to spark uncontrollably as it took the last electricity it could find and the prisoner within the cage began to cry out in unbearable pain, with a final scream all his power had gone having been ripped from him painfully.

* * *

Then everything was finished the generators were full and Jay had nothing left to give, he was weak and could barely stand. The serpentine left him there for a few minutes whilst they checked all generators were full and only then did they let him out of the cage. They didn't care for this prisoner so they unshackled him and let him fall to the floor where he hit the ground hard.

"Take him to my lair, we haven't finished with him yet" Pythor said as he eyed the blue ninja who was evidently still alive.


	13. Is it the end?

The 3 ninja were still talking to each other when they heard noise coming from one of the nearby tunnels, Cole motioned his brothers to be quiet, they didn't want any unwanted attention from the serpentine, so they hushed their voices. Within 2 minutes an unconscious Jay was dragged out of the tunnel with his legs trailing behind him. He was fastened to the spare set of shackles in the middle of the room and left there.

10 minutes had passed before Jay had the strength to open his eyes, he could hear mumbled voices, familiar voices trying to rouse him. He lifted his head and squinted his eyes to regain focus on where he was. _Ah great another room another psycho torture session_...he chuckled to himself weakly.

"Jay! Jay over here bro, you ok?" Kai asked.

Jay was in a standing position with his arms and legs apart, he was shackled to a low lying pipe in vengestone cuffs, his legs shaking and struggling to hold him up from weakness but the pain from the shackles on his wrists made him stand even though his body protested…"What is it with stress positions huh!" Jay said as he craned his neck to see his brothers all shackled against the opposite wall.

His brothers seemed to be in a similar predicament except for the fact that they weren't injured just restrained in vengestone to prevent them from using their elements to escape.

Jay had been at the supposed facility for 3 hours prior to being brought here….where ever here was. He had nothing left, his energy was all but gone and his strength was non-existent...his reserve and perseverance still there.

Zane had remained on the Bounty with Nya and they were enroute to the ninja's last known location thanks to the trackers that some of the ninja were wearing.

* * *

Right on cue the serpentine general Pythor and the snake king Skales slithered into the large room where the ninja were being held. They were happy to see their all of their captors awake. Pythor walked over to his electrical system and switched a button on the console, suddenly a light replaced the semi darkness of the cave as Jay's stolen element was being used to power Pythor's lair.

The serpentine approached the shackled blue ninja and smiled, Pythor and Skales had some sort of sick fascination with this ninja, they finally had him and the blood lust in their eyes wasn't about to disappear. They each took it in turns to punch him viciously in his chest, the sound of bone covered knuckles hitting flesh made Lloyd's stomach turn. Pythor stopped beating Jay abruptly when he hurt his hand.

"Gahh," Pythor spat, "this ninja hurt my hand".

"Well that's w-what happens w-when you take t-things that d-don't belong to y-you" Jay said weakly as he fought the effects of being winded again, he watched as Pythor scowled at him.

"Hey Cole, h-how come I'm g-getting all the s-special treatment" Jay quizzed trying to be funny.

"STOP IT….can't you see you're hurting him" Kai shouted.

"That's the plan you ssstupid ninja…your bond as brothers is legendary so they say….besides if you hurt one you hurt them all."

"I swear to god, if you hurt him anymore I'll kill you myself" Cole yelled.

"So…...what if I do this then?" Skales hissed and raised his eye mockingly testing the boundaries of what Cole had just said.

Skales punched Jay in the jaw mercilessly which startled the blue ninja and sent his head flying to the side, blood started seeping out of his mouth, Jay groaned when he felt a loose tooth.

"Is that all you got?" Jay said with vitriol as he spat the blood in his mouth at Skales.

"Oh….you'll regret that" said Skales as he wiped the disgusting blood off his face and followed with a backhanded slap across Jay's face, he grinned when he noticed that he had just broken Jay's lip.

"What is it w-with m-my face you don't l-like" Jay coughed "C-cos you keep t-touching it" he added with a pained laugh.

Skales was getting tired with the annoying blue ninja, he just wouldn't quit…he needed silencing and he knew just how to do it. He approached Jay looked him in the eyes and finished off with an impressive roundhouse kick to Jay's head which knocked him out cold. A laceration appeared on Jay's temple where the kick had landed and a stream of blood was steadily making its way down his face and neck to settle on the floor.

"Ahh that's better, he's quiet …no more wisecracks" Pythor said with glee.

"YOU BASTARD, how dare you" Cole boomed angrily, tears stinging his eyes as he glared at the 2 snakes in font of Jay.

"Jay?…. JAY!, buddy, can you hear me?" Cole shouted across the large room.

"Now…now, language Cole, would you prefer this treatment instead of your beloved blue ninja scum?" Skales asked as he quickly moved to Cole's side, he stood mere inches away from him. "How strong are you anyway? master of earth, I bet you don't have the stamina to even work our manual generator" ….he whispered into Cole's ear before pulling back and delivering a sucker punch to Cole's face. The action of this caused his face to hit the wall at his side leaving a cut where his face had scraped the cave.

"I WILL KILL YOU ….I will hunt you down and kill you" Cole said quietly to Skales.

"Maybe, but not today as you see we have a special treat for you" he whispered into Cole's ear so that only he could hear.

Skales approached Kai "ah yes, the loud mouth, the opinionated one, the hothead I assume?" as he looked in Pythors' direction for clarification…..I guess we could always have you fuel our ovens we could always use more heat down here. He whispered into Kai's ear as his eyes focussed on the blade in his hand, he brought the kunai blade up to Kai's face and pressed the tip onto his cheek cutting into it until a bead of blood gently trickled down his face...Skales smiled as he walked towards Lloyd.

"And of course we couldn't forget the little green ninja" Skales spat.

"You stay away from him Skales" Kai shouted trying to protect his youngest ninja friend and brother from the evil incarnate that was Skales.

He stood in front of Lloyd the kunai blade still firmly in his grasp, "get away from me, leave us all alone, you sick freaks" Lloyd yelled just as Skales pushed the kunai into his thigh, he let out a pained yelp as he felt the blade cut through muscle, the pain coming in pulses as the blade remained in place.

"Pathetic just as I thought" as Skales turned his back on them.

Skales had finished talking to his captive audience and joined Pythor for the finale.

Pythors' voice boomed across the cavernous room "And for the finale we give you…..the blue ninja of lightning, hahahahaha…..but wait there's more he has no lightning left" "hahahahahahaha…..ah well never mind we may as well revive him, after all he won't want to miss his own funeral".

"Ah I crack myself up with my own wit" Pythor said to himself out loud.

Pythor threw a cold bucket of water over Jay to revive him, as soon as Jay was conscious again he punched Jay in the side, making him groan and shout out in pain as he felt his rib break.

"Unghhh…..C…Cole, h-help me" Jay whispered in pain.

"JAY, Jay, we're right here buddy" Cole shouted trying to keep Jay's hopes alive but fearing what was about to happen….a finale never sounded good when people were being held captive.

"Ah you pathetic ninja….is it painful? You don't know the meaning of the word pain", Pythor hissed as he closed in on Jay again, taking out his prized Tanto blade.

He slithered up to Jay and quickly unsheathed the beautiful golden blade before roughly stabbing it cleanly through the chest of the blue ninja until it came out of his back. Pythor took his time and looked up to his side at the 3 restrained ninja's who just gasped in shock at what Pythor had done. Cole squeezed his eyes closed and turned his head away trying to imagine it was a dream until Jay shrieked in pain as Pythor was pulling the blade out. The feeling of release was so close when the blade had been removed, a deep internal pressure was building slowly and yet Jay felt oddly calm, he was feeling cold as his warm blood spilled out onto the floor and began to pool around his feet. Pythor whispered to Jay before sinking the blade in again to the same wound "Hopefully this time you'll die".

"What have you done Pythor? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Cole shouted.

Jay's breathing was quickly becoming laboured and almost non existant. His head rose slowly as he watched Pythor walk away and then coughed weakly as a large amount of frothy red blood spilled out of his mouth leading a trail of blood down his body to accumulate on the floor.

"H…..h..eyy….g-guys, l…I….could use a little h-help h-here" Jay managed to say as his breath hitched which sent shivers through his body, his blood continuing to pool at his feet.

The 3 captured ninja all looked on in shock as their blue ninja was beaten almost to death but somehow was still managing to hang on. Was this his last spark of energy? or his soul holding on a little longer until he was ready to let go? Cole's mouth hung open he was shocked and amazed that Jay was still able to talk.

"What did he ever do to you, you sick fucks" Kai cried in anger before Pythor left.

"Oh this useless ninja got in the way too many times…not his fault I guess maybe the leader is to blame" as Pythor eyed Lloyd and Cole from afar, "besides we've had our fun with him now" he shouted as he turned away.

"We'll leave you to all to watch him die, he's as good as dead anyway and we've got other things to do" Pythor said.

As they walked out of the underground tomb into their respective lairs, Skales junior was watching with terror in his eyes, he had watched the whole thing. He had spoken to the ninja before and even bought them into his lair to introduce them to his mother when his father wasn't acting like a psychopathic snake.

He waited patiently until both the General and Snake king had left the room before he made his appearance at the 3 shackled ninja's sides. He hastily undid their bonds and looked apologetically at them before he disappeared without saying a word, tears evidently coming down his small serpentine framed face.

Cole nodded and then ran as fast as he could to get to Jay's side, Kai followed in quick pursuit and took Jay's shackles off while Cole eased Jay onto the floor. The sight up close of Jay with this blade sticking out of his chest was enough to make all 3 ninja pass out.

"We've gotta remove it...he can't breathe, he's drowning in his own blood!" Kai screeched.

"No...Kai, it needs to stay in until we can get him to the hospital! He could bleed to death if we attempt it again" Cole argued.

"Well what do we do now?" Lloyd asked

"Lloyd have you got details of Zane's whereabouts or where the Bounty is right at this moment?" Cole said as he asked Lloyd to check his tracking device, which was secretly affixed to his ninja gi.

"We need to get out of here NOW" Cole hissed "Jay…..come on…. Hold on, don't close your eyes, stay with me buddy…come on open those eyes….JAY!"

Cole shouted a little too loud to attempt to rouse him, relief flooded over Cole as Jay fluttered his eyes open briefly. A tear escaped down his bloodied face as he looked up into Cole's brown eyes and smiled.

"W…what took ya….. so l…long?" ,Jay gasped and attempted a laugh but in its place came more frothy red blood and a breathless cough which left Jay grimacing in excruciating pain.

"Jay…..please stay with me bro…come on open your eyes…Jay! JAY!"

"W-wow Cole reign it….in w-would ya" Jay said in a barely audible voice.

"Try not to talk buddy, I'm here for ya, just try to stay awake" Cole soothed.

"The Bounty is 500 feet in that direction" Lloyd stated as he pointed to the rough direction they needed to go. They all assisted Jay, his arms were draped over Kai and Cole as they carried him out of the empty room down through a network of tunnels. They used Lloyds tracking device to work out the correct route with Lloyd leading the way with a visible limp. Within a few minutes they had escaped the snake tunnels and were on the outskirts of New Ninjago city sewerage system.

"This way guys, just up here" Lloyd whispered.

"What we have to go up the ladder? Jay can't climb and we can't carry him fireman style because of this" as he pointed to the weapon still residing in Jay's chest. Kai sounded flustered and emotional staring at himself and Cole who were both covered in blood a mixture of their own and Jays , Lloyd wasn't faring too well being that he had a leg wound, he had removed the blade himself before they left the tomb and created a makeshift tourniquet to stop it from bleeding excessively, he was tired, exhaustion and injury was making the ninja team panic.

Suddenly the man hole cover opened and Zane was appearing above them, he had thought to contact the paramedics in case someone had been hurt and he had been correct in doing so.

"Hello brothers, glad to see you wearing your tracking devices…..Jay was right to….." Zane cut off as he saw one of his closest friends hanging limply in Cole and Kai's grasp.

"Zane, Jay's seriously hurt have you got a stretcher that you can lower down this hole?"

"Yes, I believe we do, they are just preparing it now" he said, as he assisted with the attachment of the restraining straps onto the stretcher and gently lowered it down to them. It was a 20 foot ladder so the stretcher had to be able to lay completely flat on the floor of the tunnel in order for Jay to be secured to it before they could even attempt to hoist him out.

The stretcher was placed on the floor where Jay was gently laid onto it, the straps were tightened to prevent him from falling out on the upwards ascent to the streets above. The paramedics stood and waited by Zane who was powerful enough to lift his fallen brother up the access pipe alone. He knew time was of the essence so he acted quickly once the stretcher came to the surface. Zane scanned Jay immediately and noted the tanto blade protruding from his chest, the first incision had caused damage to the artery and the second was slowly drowning him in his own blood.

"The nearest hospital is only 5 minutes away in that direction, Ninjago Memorial" Zane stated quickly.

"Oh, well we are planning on taking him to Ninjago General, that's where they'll be expecting him" The paramedics replied.

Zane looked up momentarily from his scan of Jay, the paramedics obviously didn't understand the extensive damage that he could see. He knew Jay wouldn't last 40 minutes in an ambulance, he needed help and fast.

"I do not for one moment think that Ninjago General will help him anymore than Memorial will, however he is quickly deteriorating…..and he will more than likely not make the journey"

Zane was getting frustrated and further stated "This is wasting valuable time! You must implore reason, it is in his best interests to be sent to the closest trauma hospital, I assure you they are not as busy as Ninjago General according to my sources, noted to himself that Ninjago General was extremely busy owing to a large road traffic accident involving at least 20 people.

"His injuries are too severe and extensive and he needs immediate attention."

"Ok, ok fine we'll take him there instead!"

"Despatch, notify Ninjago Memorial we'll be there in 3 minutes, they'll need to prep the emergency surgery suite, this patient has a stab wound, the weapon is still intact and located in his thoracic cavity" The paramedic said to the despatch receiver at Ninjago emergency services. They both packed Jay into the back of the ambulance, one of the paramedics jumped into the driving seat whilst the other administered an oxygen mask over Jay's mouth and nose. Zane hopped in to the ambulance to keep a close eye on him, he was one of the only other people apart from the paramedic who could help Jay.

Once the other ninja had emerged wearily from the access tunnel they saw the ambulance whizzing off at a fast pace down the road, they knew Zane was with him but that didn't stop Kai and Cole wanting to race off after them.

"Are you coming Lloyd" Cole shouted, Lloyd didn't answer he retreated up the ladder onto the Bounty and just went straight to his room, he didn't even register Nya or Misako standing on the deck wanting answers.

"Come on Cole, let's just go….we don't have time for this!" Kai hissed as he ushered Cole away.

They both summoned their respective elemental dragons and were quickly catching up with the ambulance.

"I miss our elemental vehicles" Kai shouted across to Cole as they were flying through the air trying to cut through the tension they were both feeling. "I had a great car and motorbike, used to be super-fast" He sighed

"Yeah, I do to bro! but my tread assault vehicle was kinda bumpy" he laughed.

"Trust Garmadon and his quest for the golden weapons! they were pretty awesome" Cole added.

"Hey it looks like they're headed to Ninjago Memorial! We've not been here before hehe" Kai smiled as they lowered their flying altitude ready to stop. The ambulance came to a complete stop outside of the emergency room ambulance bay. Zane was the first out looking extremely tense and worried, Jay's stats had been rapidly dropping in those few minutes he was on the stretcher. His oxygen was dangerously low, he wasn't breathing on his own anymore so the paramedic had to do it with the ambubag while Zane was monitoring his pulse.

Zane handed over the basic details of the incident to the staff at Ninjago Memorial, he told them what his scan had shown and hoped they would take him at his word.

"This is Jay Walker, he is 20 years old. He has severe and major trauma to his cardiothoracic area" Zane motioned towards the golden blade, "I believe this has punctured his lung because of the appearance of hemoptysis or frothy red blood, he also appears to have a broken rib and a laceration to his temple. His main issues are blood loss and a lack of oxygen" Zane finished and with a nod of heads they took him away promptly. _Please help him_ he thought as he turned around and sighed deeply.

* * *

 **Edited to add...spelling corrections...damn it...my biggest bugbear**


	14. Touch and go

A nurse stayed behind to get Zane's details and because they could find no trace of Jay's medical files meant he needed to stay in the reception area going through all the necessary details of vaccinations, illnesses or close death experiences Jay had endured.

Zane was quick to put himself, Cole and Kai as Jay's next of kin thus allowing him to be updated of Jay's prognosis, treatment and plan of care with his other brothers.

Cole and Kai quickly walked into the reception and saw Zane giving the details the hospital needed to hear. They both sat down near to Zane while waiting for him to finish, Kai looked around for a vending machine, he was so thirsty.

"Hey Cole, you want a drink?"

"Yeah…ice cold water would be great."

Kai sauntered off to find the machine, there wasn't much any of them could do but wait. Hospital chairs were not the comfiest chairs available and after four hours Cole and Kai were beginning to get angry, Zane didn't mind. Cole was just about to get up and start yelling until someone came out of emergency surgery covered in a large amount of blood on his scrubs, he removed his surgeons mask with washed hands and called the 3 ninja into a private room.

He proceeded to tell them how the surgery had gone, the damage had been repaired again, bed rest etc. He then broached the subject of organ donation which got all 3 ninja looking up in confusion.

"Look, Mr Walker is….."

"JAY, his name is Jay" Kai interrupted coldly.

"I'm sorry…. Jay was in a critical condition when he was brought in….and he has lost approximately 4 pints of blood from the injuries, internal bleeding and subsequent surgery."

"I'm not going to sugar coat this but if Jay doesn't wake up from this surgery it's likely he won't wake up at all, he should have woken up 3 hours ago."

"You can all visit him in intensive care if you wish, but please note that Jay is on an artificial respirator at present, because he can't breathe for himself. The chest trauma has done significant damage to his external and internal intercostal muscles."

"I'm sorry" he added, "he is in what is known in the medical profession as "the triad of death" all we can do is monitor him closely and wait…Please….please consider the organ donation form in case he deteriorates further as we would need to begin the transplantation process whilst his remaining organs are still healthy. The next 24 hours will decide his fate" The doctor added as he left the ninja to absorb what they had just been told.

"What, the hell are you talking about? You're talking about mutilating him and he isn't even dead" Cole said as he stood up and faced the doctor menacingly.

"Cole please…."Zane pleaded "this isn't helping matters".

Cole listened to Zane one of his most trusted friends as he sat back down and bought his hands up to his face with a sigh, the news slowly sinking in that he was going to lose Jay, there was nothing they could do, he slowly began to cry as he rubbed his eyebrows in shock and defeat. Kai was at a loss for words he too was devastated, he looked away from his brothers and hid his face with one hand as tears began to flow.

"W-we failed him, we failed Sensei Wu… a-and we failed ourselves" Kai said as he held his head down in deep thought.

Zane was the first to talk as he stood up he looked at his heartbroken brothers and said "We need to see Jay, if the doctor is right about his prognosis now is the time to say our…goodbyes" he added sorrowfully as he saw the impact those words had on Cole and Kai.

The three ninja sat around their beloved blue ninja or Jay as he was called, they watched the machine inflate his lungs slowly whilst another pumped blood into his arm with some pressure. He had a feeding tube placed into his nose and his left arm had 3 intravenous tubes running from it plus a sickly amount of bruises from trying to find a vein to use. His eyes were taped shut and he had a huge plastic contraption in his mouth to keep his airway open, added to his condition was a new chest drain. Even if Jay woke up he would not be able to move, so he was completely sedated.

Jay's unconscious POV

 _In his mind it felt like he was locked in a cage, alone in a dark room, so this is what he visualised. He tried shouting out but no-one could hear him, he cried and shouted repeatedly banging his raw knuckles on the floor until there was nothing but blood and bone. The sight made him cry and whimper in pain._

 _"Why…..why can no one hear me?...w…where am I?" he rocked back and forth alone and locked in his own thoughts. Pythor and Skales appeared and he tried to back away from them but yet they reappeared in his cage, they tortured him so mercilessly he was left on the floor for dead. He blinked his eyes he could still feel the pain but they were nowhere to be seen, he could still hear them mocking him even after he begged them to stop, he could hear them laughing at his expense._

 _Throughout all of the negative things swimming through his mind prison, were the constant voices that were calm, 3 of them to be precise, he recognised them and took solace in the fact that he could feel their presence even if he couldn't see them. He hung on to the hope that hearing these 3 voices would keep the darker voices away but for how long. How long had it been now? It felt like an eternity that he had been locked in this cell, the same voices muffled but still there, some odd random beeps here and there and a sound of forced breathing could be heard._

 _After a while the 3 peaceful calm voices became emotional and quiet, they were disappearing and allowing the darkness to consume him. The image of Pythor came into his line of sight in this small cage he was kept in, Pythor walked up to Jay and laughed as he viciously stabbed his golden Tanto blade into Jay's chest even in his head he couldn't shake the memory of it as it was constantly replayed… the pain getting worse._

 _That was until he felt something pulling him, his cage suddenly alight with electricity, and again more forceful this time… His cage exploded in front of him revealing dark angry clouds with streaks of loud crackling lightning overhead. He momentarily saw bright lights until he was hit with another more painful pulse of electricity. He was returning to consciousness rapidly and as such he attempted to open his eyes, he squinted as he struggled with the brightness of the room as his blurry eyes tried to adjust….then he saw Zane with what looked like defibrillator paddles. Zane could see that Jay was gaining consciousness rapidly but looked at him apologetically and said "Once more Jay and I'm sorry but this will hurt like hell". He pressed the paddles to Jay's chest and side and pulled the trigger…he wasn't joking the pain was unbearable as Jay bucked against the electricity coursing through his body, his arms and legs restrained for his own safety._

Zane's pov

A thought came to Zane after his falcon had relayed a message from Sensei Wu stating that according to the scrolls, the event they had unknowingly witnessed when Jay had been shot was considered a glimpse of some ones ultimate potential. Sensei Wu didn't really give much more information except to say that if the ninja even one of them reached their ultimate potential they would be unstoppable…a force to be reckoned. Sensei had mentioned that up until now there was only one ultimate spinjitsu master and that was Lloyd however there was nothing written about other elementals.

He now knew what he needed to do but he wasn't sure how he could do it, he needed to speak to Cole and Kai for clarification and to explain what was happening, he also needed a distraction which one of the ninja would have to be so Zane could attempt to revive Jay alone.

He needed to defibrillate Jay, this was the reason he was deteriorating so fast, his heart hadn't stopped at the hospital at all, they were keeping him alive just in case we signed the organ donor forms. His previous injury had stopped his heart when used in conjunction with the electromagnetic device and they had no choice but to defibrillate him.

Zane frowned and then realised _Jay had 3 subsequent shocks one right after another and the power cut_ ….. _of course_ Zane thought. The power had to have gone somewhere, his eyes opened wide when he realised that Jay had absorbed the voltage that was given to him to restart his heart…it happened in recovery too.

Time was of the essence Jay was dying and this needed to be done, yes it was a risky procedure as it could kill Jay, but what choice did they have?

"Cole, Kai, new plan…..listen closely brothers".

Sensei Wu sent me a message about something in the scrolls that he read on elemental masters, apparently after our true potential there is such a thing as ultimate potential however the scrolls only indicated that a green ninja would become the one and only ultimate master", "Which makes me think that maybe the first spinjitsu master didn't know that it could happen to another…..I mean it wasn't actually supposed to happen to Jay but the weapon they used on him made it happen".

He let them both take in this information as they swapped glances with each other before prompting Zane to continue.

"Basically I know why Jay is dying, let me just say that the weapon they used caused his element to be unstable, are you following me so far?" They both nodded and he continued.

"His element was unstable and therefore they harvested him for it, they physically drained him as you saw for yourselves" he added.

"When they used the weapon and shot him his heart stopped in the operating room and again in recovery, they used the defibrillator to bring him back".

"Yeah and what does that mean exactly?" Kai asked feeling hopeful but confused.

"It means that when they shocked him, he absorbed the power from it….literally. Actually he absorbed the power from the entire hospital" Zane finished.

"That would explain the power cuts" Cole said as Zane looked at him impressed.

"I am not going to lie, this will not be pleasant for Jay, it is just another unpleasant thing to add to his growing list that he is going to have to endure for a few minutes".

"Exactly how unpleasant?" Cole asked frowning…Zane didn't answer.

"I need to get into Jay's room without any other staff being there, one of you will need to stand outside oh and I'll need a set of open heart defibrillator paddles too" Zane added "they give off more voltage than standard ones".

"W-why do you need defib paddles?" Cole asked with a puzzled face "J….Jay is still alive".

"I'll need to explain that later or perhaps Sensei Wu will...right now we need to do this quickly".

Kai contacted Nya on the Bounty and asked them to dock on the roof of the hospital with the ramp down in prepartion. He offered to stay near the door and keep watch outside and Cole offered to be there to help Zane if he needed it. Kai didn't like the sound of what Zane was about to do so he sat on the seats nearby until Zane and Cole had neared.

They all approached Jay's room and waited until the nurses had come out, Zane found a set of open heart paddles on a surgical trolley and entered Jay's room with Cole in tow. They both managed to get in unnoticed by the staff and began promptly, they only had a short window of six minutes to do this so they locked the door. Kai stood outside and discreetly melted the lock mechanism so a key would not work anymore, the only way anyone was getting in that room would be to melt the locks again or smash the door. He walked away and sat down near the ward but not close enough to hear anything…he'd heard enough of Jay's screams in the last few hours to last a lifetime.

Cole approached the bed and whispered into Jay's ear, he was shaking through nerves and he bit his lip as he knew this would hurt his best friend and could potentially kill him. "Jay I'm right here for you buddy".

"Cole it's time, you need to clear the bed…..whatever you do don't touch the bed".

"Ok Zane, just do it already".

He stripped the sheets of Jay and cut some of his bandages covering the still bleeding puncture wound as he expertly applied the sticky patches to Jay's left side and sternum. He set the voltage to 300 to start off.

"Clear Cole" he stood back and watched as the defibrillator machine delivered a powerful shock to Jay's body, he saw it arch up of the bed in protest as all of Jay's muscles were being attacked by hundreds of volts of pure electricity, the lights flickering slightly…. _Oh god Jay please please be ok_ Cole pleaded.

Zane took the paddles of and then turned up the voltage to 500, "Cole stand back" Zane shouted as he placed the paddles back onto Jay and pulled the triggers, an audible wheeze could be heard from Jay, "It's time to remove the airway and eye strips. Cole did as he was directed and removed the oropharyngeal airway the one other thing that was actually keeping Jay alive. Once that had been removed Cole stood back again as he saw Zane turn the voltage up to 800 and then reapplied the paddles. "Cole, this will start to hurt him but please don't try to touch….CLEAR"

Jay screamed in pain as he opened his eyes, "Z…..Zane…NO… w…what are y…you doing?" he whispered as he saw the paddles approaching his chest. "Once more Jay and I'm sorry this will be painful". Zane turned the machine up to the maximum limit of 1000 volts as he pulled the triggers, Cole looked horrified at the pain that was etched onto Jay's face, he wasn't expecting Jay to wake up during this _but Zane knew what he doing right_?

"NO Cole stand back" Cole's breathing became fast and his heart was racing, the tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife. _Oh my god what are we doing to him, Zane stop….please Jay please pull through._

"Clear" Zane said as he pulled the triggers for a fourth and final time as the lights went out in the hospital for two seconds until backup power came on.

"Agggghhhhh", Jay groaned "No…..wait…what!…Z…Zane, C…Cole" Jay whispered in a barely audible voice.

"Welcome back brother" Zane said with a heartfelt smile "I'm so sorry I had to do that but I had no choice…..you were dying".

"Jay!" Cole's soft side had finally shown itself he began crying and hugged Jay in a gentle embrace not wanting to let go. He had finally gotten over his fear of dying and was amazed and somewhat frightened at Zane's sheer determination to prove everyone wrong in the ward that this was what Jay needed. But it was because of Zane that Jay was now alive.

"W…..what did you d…..do?" Jay asked wincing as he looked down at the burns now residing on his skin along with his other injuries.

"We did what we had to bro, there really was no choice" Cole said sadly "The doctor was about to harvest your organs" Jay visibly shuddered at the word 'harvest' owing to the word being used in the facility before he was tortured. "D….don't say the 'h' word" Jay said quietly as he grimaced in pain.

"Jay we need to get you out of here…this hospital and the one in the city have serpentine working with them undercover. They're looking for us and you, so the Bounty is coming to pick us up in five minutes" Cole stated. Zane helped Jay sit up but he was in much need of pain relief now that he was awake and the pain he was experiencing was making it difficult for him to think or listen.

"Breathe Jay just breathe…this is gonna hurt too but in three seconds I'm lifting you off here and putting you on that" Cole pointed at the wheelchair.

"Oh come on C…..Cole, y…..you can't be s…serious!" Jay whispered, his voice still raw and crackled from the earlier scream.

"Sorry bro but we've got no choice, the serpentine know we are here….look, I know they can't attack us in here but they can ambush us outside" so we're headed up to the roof access.

Cole quickly grabbed Jays' body and put him gently in the wheelchair with copious blankets, one for his head and the rest for his body to cover the large container helping his lungs inflate and drain. Zane grabbed a handful of morphine vials, sterile containers for the chest drain, iv tubes, liquid sedatives and antibiotics just in case of infection, everything else was on board.

Kai was notified by his tracking device as he walked casually back to the room, he turned his back to the door as he lit a tiny fire which melted the lock mechanism again so the door could open. "Are we ready guys" Kai whispered sideways into the room.

"Yes" came the quick but quiet reply from Zane, the ninja didn't want anybody to notice that they were taking Jay, so this was done quickly. As soon as Zane disconnected his heart monitor all alarms in the vicinity buzzed, " **We have a code blue, I repeat a code blue in room 20 ICU…all available personnel to attend** ".

"And that's our cue to get out of here" as Cole rounded the corner quickly with Jay in his wheelchair. Kai was waiting by the open elevator door when Zane ran in and temporarily reprogrammed the lift to bypass security and take them up to the roof.

The Bounty was a sight to behold; it was waiting patiently docked on the roof but hidden behind a very large advertisement board. The ramp was lowered to allow them ease of access as they quickly ran towards it.

Once aboard they were greeted by 2 very relieved faces, namely Lloyd and Nya. Zane signalled that it was time to depart as the Bounty gently propelled away from the hospital.

"Quick raise the ramp, we've gotta go now otherwise we'll have company" Cole shouted at Nya who quickly ran to the control room and proceeded to get the Bounty moving.

Jay was rapidly wheeled through to the infirmary again and gently placed into bed, Zane set up his iv lines and decided it would best to sedate him because of the amount of pain he was currently experiencing. He was struggling to breathe because of the exertion of being roughly hauled out of his death bed, yet the voltages he was subjected to made him feel energised.

The pain from the various wounds and burns made him feel drowsy and his own adrenaline surge kept him awake as it attempted to fight the pain but it wasn't enough Jay longed for sleep and he was beginning to hallucinate as a mixture of pain and exhaustion took over his tired and injured body.

"Cole, I need you to restrain him, he's hallucinating" Zane shouted as he struggled with Jay.

"Can you pass me one of those morphine vials and a needle quickly, he's going into shock".

Cole had never moved so fast, he wasn't about to lose Jay again.

In Jay's vision he could see an army of snakes descending on all of them, he saw five impressive ninja warriors fighting the snakes in the distance trying to get closer. The warriors all looked familiar, a red one, black, white, green and a woman, but no blue one. Suddenly he saw himself in a clearing all on his own, the rain beating down on his bloodied back, an exhausted worn out blue ninja tired of fighting and ready to give up….with a katana sticking crudely out of his back…the sight enough to scare him…he watched as the blue ninja tried to back away from the pain and torment, putting his hands up in defence as a powerful bolt of lightning hit him in the chest…then everything went black.

Jay was still; the medication finally in his system allowing his heart rate to slow and his convulsions to stop, as he rested in a pain free slumber.

Cole stood back and wiped his sweat covered forehead, sweeping his bangs away from his eyes, "I'm gonna go freshen up….Zane, ok?"

"Holler if you need me".

Zane watched over Jay, there was nothing more they could do for him, he just needed to rest and recuperate. Jay looked healthy but his body said otherwise, the injuries were extensive but now he was here he would be safe, nothing would happen as long as Zane was there.

Zane bandaged Jay's wounds as they had been cut away earlier, so he began busying himself applying dressings to the puncture wounds and ointment to the burns. He attached the drips in place and stood back to admire his work…"All done" he said with relief as he stepped away and washed his hands thoroughly. He walked back over to his sleeping patient and whispered "Jay I know you may be able to hear me but I need you to rest….this is the only way and sorry I had to sedate you".


	15. Getting better

He had been back on the Bounty for four weeks and in that time Zane had helped in his recuperation, Jay was almost ready to leave the infirmary, he had been in a constant state of sedation for over two weeks owing to pain and tissue healing. Normally a patient with injuries as severe as Jay's would have warranted a long stay in hospital, involving such teams as physiotherapists and counselling but as it was, the hospitals had been infiltrated by serpentine who were bent on revenge...not just for Jay but the entire ninja team.

No one was safe so the only option to ensure complete recuperation for everyone meant a long overdue trip back to the coast where the calming and crisp sea breeze would waft through the flying ship. Jay had only been awake for one week as pain medication had kept him effectively sedated, a chemical coma was what Zane had recommended and it was his reasoning that made the other ninja agree with him.

Sensei Wu had returned from his travels, he had spoken in great detail to everyone about new prophecies involving his students, he had also spoken to Jay once he was strong enough, the talk was calming and held no anxieties for Jay as he was almost at the stage Wu had told him to prepare for, his ultimate elemental form.

* * *

"How's the patient Zane?" Cole asked as he approached the bed which held a sleeping blue elemental ninja, "when can he come outta here...he's been here for a month now" he whined as he gently grasped his sleeping best friends hand.

"When he wakes up, we'll see how he tolerates some exercises...he will tire quickly so we will need to monitor him closely, but he is otherwise healthy now."

"Cool...ya hear that Jay, you can get outta here today, maybe join us on the deck and watch me kick fireboy's ass" Cole chuckled into Jay's ear, stroking an errant brunette hair from Jay's vision. Cole noticed that Jay's hair had grown longer and he remembered back to that fateful day when they were all fresh faced and heading to the cupcake shop after watching a movie. Jay had only had his hair cut the day before it happened because he wanted to look smart for Nya. But then their whole world was turned upside down as Cole found out just how badly Jay was hurt, he died...twice in one day. Cole's heart felt like it had been ripped in two when it happened, he stood there and watched through the semi frosted glass helplessly as they performed cpr on Jay...his best friend and his brother.

He could briefly remember the events that led up to the hospital trip but lots of it was still a blur as he lost consciousness along with his brothers, he watched as Pythor shot in their general direction but he thought he had missed as all his brothers were still standing strong. It was only then that he saw it, he turned his head to his far left and saw Jay looking painfully at his chest, he was sweating and a large wet patch was slowly appearing on his chest moving downwards, his red hand covering it... ** _wait red hand...is that blood?_** Jay was deathly quiet yet his mouth was moving...no-one could hear him, but before Cole could say or do anything Skales had pressed another button and everything after that was fuzzy.

Cole shivered as the memories came flooding back and with that, he sat back with Jay's hand still in his, he wasn't willing for anything else to happen to him, Jay had been through enough.

They needed a plan, Cole wanted revenge on Pythor and Skales, he and his brothers were made to watch as the snakes ruthlessly stripped Jay of his element and then tried to kill him again but with a captive audience, he sighed deeply "oh Jay."

"Hey C-Cole snap out of it would ya...you're gonna make me cry" Jay giggled as he opened his eyes as saw his black haired friend sitting right next to his bed. He adjusted his position slightly and stretched his leg out "what time is it anyway?"

"It's almost lunchtime...surprised you can't smell it actually...Lloyd seems to be adept at making tempura prawns and sushi so that's what we're having today" Cole said licking his lips in anticipation.

"Well I guess it saves us all from your cooking" Jay teased and sat up on his bed, letting go of Cole's warm hand. He jumped out of bed energetically and did a final stretch but winced when he pushed it too far, there was still still pain in his chest where his stab wound was located. Zane had forewarned him that the scar tissue within could take months to completely heal.

"Hey no fair...my cooking skills are getting better" Cole said as he noticed Jay grimace in pain, he jumped to his feet and bent down next to him and noted his quick pained breaths "Jay take it easy bro...slow breaths...there ya go" He helped straighten Jay up and walked him out of the infirmary and into the breakfast area where Lloyd, Kai and Nya were already eating.

"Morning Jay feeling better today" Kai said with a smile as he motioned his blue brother to join him on the breakfast bench as Cole went to retrieve a plate for both him and Jay.

"Yeah I am feeling better, just gotta remember not to stretch out too much" he said as he rolled his eyes and pointed to his covered up scar, Kai smiled gently at him.

"It'll take time...that's all besides this sea air will having you feeling better in no time."

"Urgh it smells like the tide is out...I hate low tide, smells kinda fishy" Cole said as he eyed the raw sushi and pushed it away favouring the cooked tempura battered prawns.

"Well how's about a nice stroll on the beach Jay, exercise those legs otherwise the muscle will waste" Zane said as he stood towering over his seated brothers, "I believe a change of scenery would be a good exercise, it will help improve your stamina...maybe a team building exercise should be in order."

"Oh god Zane what are you planning" Lloyd cringed as anything involving the sea usually meant feeling sticky and salty afterwards.

"A relay race...three hundred metres run on the sand and hundred and fifty in the sea"

"Cool can we pick our own teams" Kai piped up "I pick Zane."

"I'll pick Nya then...you ok with that Nya?" Lloyd squeaked as he waited for her to respond.

"Sure thing Lloyd, lets see what you're made of" she chuckled and joined his side.

This left Cole and Jay and Cole looked weary all of a sudden as he stayed in his seated position, "Hey it's ok Cole, seriously stop worrying so much...I can do this...besides you heard Zane it'll be good for us and for me." Jay said as he messed up Cole's hair with both hands and then ran off giggling with Cole hot on his heels.

Jay ran into their shared sleeping quarters and sat on his old bed, he hadn't slept on it for over a month now and he missed it as well as his brothers friendly banter. Cole came storming in and jumped next to Jay grabbing his head and ruffling his hair until it resembled a mop.

They both tussled for a while and Cole tickled Jay in his ribs being careful to avoid his injured areas, Jay giggled and put his hands up in defeat.

"Ok, ok, ok you got me haaa" Jay panted with a slightly flushed face "Are ya missing her yet...you've been cooped up on this ship for so long now...you've started flirting with me" Jay teased.

"You mean Rose? Yeah I am, I phone her every other night...but what can I do...I need to stay here besides Sensei would be annoyed if I wandered off for the night."

"From what I heard it was most of the night and early morning...you're giving us guys a bad name Cole..." Jay smirked.

"Hey you still got that nurse right, you heard from her recently?"

"Yeah she sent me some photos last week and yesterday...I think she misses me hehehe."

"Hey no fair what photos let me see" Cole quizzed as he wrestled Jay for his phone, Jay watched as Cole's eyes widened "WHOA, whoa Jay this is positively pornographic" Cole says as he tips his head sideways to get a better view whilst biting his lip "mmmm fine...very nice dude...looks like she wants something from ya bro" Cole said tossing the phone back.

"Take it you'll be seeing her soon then?"

"yeah I will be... I've explained what happened, she was devastated...she cried... I don't know Cole... I mean she's hot and all and she's pretty good at what she does both physically and professionally but I just don't feel like she's the one...I mean I'll definitely arrange another night with her but I don't think I love her...just love her body and how she makes me feel." Jay frowned and shrugged his shoulders.

"Ahh that sucks Jay, but no strings relationships aren't that bad...plus side it's a repetitive one night stand with no guilt...so cheer up dude, you've still got it."

"I'll be meeting up with Rose next Friday, going to a little bar in the city if you wanna come...hey you should invite Skye even if you guys aren't serious you can still have some fun with her."

"Hehe fine I'll think about it"

"Right this relay thing...you don't have to do it however myself and Zane believe it would help to strengthen and increase your lung capacity." Cole said changing the subject somewhat whilst putting his leader of the team head on.

"No I can do it...but I want a head start and I want the run not the swim..cos ya know electricity doesn't mix well with water"

"Hmmm not too picky then sparky...fine I'll do the swim, get your exercise clothes on and meet us down on the sand when you're ready."

Cole grabbed his back shorts and figure hugging t shirt and hoodie before leaving the room leaving Jay to madly scramble for his exercise clothes, it had been a while since Jay had done any physical activity and he was a little anxious, he leaped of his bed and rummaged through his drawers, sourcing his favourite vest shirt and blue shorts... _don't think I'll need a hoodie though considering I'll be running hehe_.

Jay walked out of the bedroom and out onto the deck, he peered over the edge and saw everyone on the beach below, the weather was grey and cloudy but it wasn't cold, he slowly lowered himself down the chain rope to the floor below, he wasn't as quick as his brothers owing to his recent injuries but he was slowly getting back to full fitness. Each day more strength training and stamina exercises specifically tailored for Jay, no sparring allowed at least until he could protect himself.

"Hey, glad you could make it" Nya squeaked as she saw Jay approaching "remember it's just a bit of fun, so don't over do it" she added and touched Jay's upper arm as he obliviously walked past her.

"Y-yeah ok, thanks Nya" Jay said absentmindedly as he looked into her brown eyes remembering how heartless she had been a few months ago when he'd been shot. Nya was trying to get closer to him now Cole was showing no interest in her, Kai had given up trying to stop her from dating each of his ninja brethren for fear of breaking up the team. But Jay wasn't interested, Skye gave him everything he desired in the bedroom, Nya always played hard to get and then she did the lowest thing possible, she played both Jay and Cole off against each other.

Misako explained the rules to the teams, Lloyd had set up the cones to mark out running areas and Nya had set up water buoys to mark out the water course.

"Ok, listen up...because I will not be repeating the rules, the runner will run two hundred metres up to the shoreline where they will tag their team mate, the team mate will swim out to the furthest red buoy and then back again as fast as they can, once they are back on the shore line they will tag the runner who will run the remainder of the course, which should be approximately two hundred metres again."

"Oh man...I didn't realise I'd be running four hundred metres maybe I should've chosen the swim" Jay whined as Cole nudged him.

"Hey no backing out now bro...this'll be good for ya" Cole giggled "Seriously though Jay don't push yourself too much ok, if it begins to hurt, or you feel pain, then stop, don't battle through just stop ok!"

"Yeah ok Dad...omg Cole...staaahp already, you don't need to worry about me bro...I'll be fine...Now go and get into your position" Jay sad walking to his starting point and getting into position to run the first long distance to the shoreline, each team mate got into their starting position with their corresponding team mate waiting near the shoreline, Kai was running as was Lloyd, both were extremely competitive neither of them noticed Jay who cracked his knuckles in anticipation of the klaxon being pressed.

Jay realised he would get no head start, maybe they had forgotten...ah well it didn't really matter, he still had to run back afterwards, he smirked as he watched Misako sound the klaxon before he set of at break neck speed down the beach, the sand underfoot was soft and quite difficult to run of but Jay miraculously managed to cover a large amount of ground gaining a good distance between him and his two brothers. Jay saw Cole waiting eagerly to be tagged, he looked impressed as Jay had sped to his current location as if by beams of electricity, blurring out he was going so fast.

'Ahh this feels good...Zane was right...so energetic.' Jay thought.

"Whoa Jay, how did ya get here so fast?" Cole quizzed as he saw Lloyd and Kai looking at Jay in bewildered shock and awe.

"Omg what does it matter...just go..GO!" Jay hissed turning and seeing Lloyd and Kai approach their team mates, both out of breath and panting heavily "omg Cole go already."

Cole swam away as fast as he could towards the first buoy, his muscles beginning to ache as the feeling of lactic acid was building up, the muscle pain spurred him on, he knew how to work through the burn and he did so efficiently. He changed his stroke to front crawl as he swam the last stretch, Nya appeared to be cheating somewhat as she was using her element to propel herself faster so she got to the shoreline first allowing her to tag Lloyd who then starting running back up the steep beach to the finish line.

Cole got out of the water and ran up to Jay who was waiting patiently with a smirk, he winked when Cole tagged him, earning a puzzled but worried glance from the master of earth. "Jay...I mean it...don't push yourself" he shouted to nothingness as Jay promptly sped away disappearing faster than a snowball in hell. He was quick..too fast, he didn't even look like he was trying to race as he ran side ways past Kai and put both his thumbs up with a wink overtaking the ninja of fire before claiming the win for his team.

"Can I get a whoop...yay team Cole...team Jay" he looked around at all of his team mates except for Wu and Misako everyone else was panting and struggling for breath, sweat pouring of Lloyd and Kai, Jay was fine however, he could do it again "whoo can we do it again? that was wicked...I feel electrified whooo."

"Hmmm this is new Jay, I strongly suggest you get some rest, you seem to be tapping into your elemental powers more so than before"Sensei Wu said "I advise caution Jay, if you allow your body to use your power like thus you will weaken quickly and in doing so, you'll be putting your team at risk...you are all finely tuned elemental ninja, your elements work in sync with your body and in conjunction with your brothers and Nya."

Wu said all he needed to before congratulating Jay and Cole on their team working skills before he turned and walked back towards the Bounty.

"You sure you're ok...I've never seen you run like that before" Cole asked looking concerned for his younger blue ninja of lightning.

"Yeah, yeah I-Im fine..." Jay sat down on the sand and lay his head back yawning loudly "just come over really tired though."

"Do you wanna go back to the Bounty then...to sleep it off cos it looks like the guys and Nya are staying down here for a bit?"

"Y-yeah stay for a bit" Jay yawned again stretching out his long legs, he looked up at the sky as the clouds separated to reveal a beautiful blue sky, the beams of pure sunshine creating a golden transparent glittering curtain which rained down upon the beach. The moment it touched Jay he smiled, he looked positively ecstatic and full of energy.

Cole sat next to him and lay down on his side facing Jay "I never told you this Jay but I thought I'd lost you back in the hospital, well both times actually"

Jay didn't respond verbally, he turned his head to Cole as he listened empathetically as his best friend relieved some of his worst memories.

"The first time your heart stopped was after they took the bullet out, the nurses wouldn't tell me anything and then you flat lined in recovery too bro...it was touch and go...I wanted to make those snakes talk, see what the hospital were playing at..I could have done it for you Jay...I could've killed the serpentine"

"Yeah I know Cole" Jay comforted his black ninja of earth "its good to hear you talk about it, I realise it must have affected all of you at some point though"

"Jay you nearly died...I couldn't lose you...I tried so hard to keep you safe, but those snakes had found another way, I should have seen it...ya know been a better leader perhaps"

"Cole you can't blame yourself bro, we had no idea of their plans."

"The last hospital you went to...well the doctor had us try to sign you over to the organ donor register, they thought you were a gonner, they had given up on you. Zane figured it all out though, we had to use the defib paddles and restraints...Oh god Jay it was really difficult to see you like that...I had to trust him though... to save you. But your face and the pain before we did it and during the procedure is something I'll never be able to erase."

"You don't seem to talk about it though Jay...it is good to talk to share...and I'm always here remember, I'm your best friend and I've got your back." Cole said as he stroked Jays upper arm.

"Cole that was deep bro haha, ya know I'm not ready to talk about it just yet...it's still too fresh in my mind, the nightmares...well" Jay stopped abruptly and sighed , the sun light warming him up leaving a rosy glow to his exposed skin "maybe I need a night out...some alcohol would make me open up hehe."


	16. A night under the stars

Lloyd and his team were still on the beach watching the sun go down and enjoying the fact that they had managed to get away without doing any sparring today because of the impromptu beach challenge earlier.

Zane had set up a camp fire with the assistance of Kai, Lloyd and Cole went to fetch some legs to sit on and Misako had delivered some blankets and bedding to the ninja so if they chose to they could sleep under the stars. This was a treat for the whole team for two reasons, one being that Jay was well enough to come out of the infirmary and two because there had been no reported crimes happening or villains demanding world dominance.

Nya chose to stay behind with Jay whilst her brothers helped set up the camp nearer to the fire. Jay was shivering slightly wishing he had bought his hoodie with him, Nya noticed and gave him a blanket using the opportunity to sit next to him closely on the sand.

"Thanks Nya...always the caring one."

"Hehe Jay, it's what I do..."

An awkward silence between the two because they had both hit a stalemate with their friendship and relationship until Nya cautiously spoke again.

"Are you okay...You don't seem to say very much nowadays...well since your rescue."

"Yeah...I guess" Jay bit his lip trying to think of something he could tell her, "I don't like talking about it because it brings back too many memories...in fact I said the same thing to Cole earlier...like deja vu all over again hehehe."

"Another reason is because it hurt."

"The memories hurt?"

"No, I mean it literally hurt both physically and mentally...guess you really had to see it to understand Nya, I know I was out of it after a while, which in some respects I'm kinda grateful for...like when I woke up in a cage and it looked like a tesla coil...it was cool but then kinda scary cos I was in it, but the enginerring was awesome ya know and everything worked...I'm telling ya those snakes seem to know what they're doing with electricity hehehe...I couldn't tell exactly what they were doing but they used my element to power their generators...hehe they didn't stop though until they got every last bit."

Jay looked down to the sand and sighed "when they took the last bit, they turned the machine right up and the pain was so bad, I'm embarrassed to admit I might have screamed."

"Aww Jay don't be embarrassed, it sounds painful just the thought of it especially considering they only wanted your power...do you still feel vulnerable?"

"Yeah I kinda do Nya...I can't help it I mean they set the whole thing up from day one. This only happened a couple of months ago and since then nothing but silence...they're both still out there plotting something."

"How do you know that, surely it would be pointless to attempt anything again."

"hehehe Nya, I'm like a battery that never goes flat...I mean who wouldn't be interested in a neverending energy supply." Jay said with a shudder.

"I just hope they don't try anything like the last time, we have to be on our guard now...all of us."

"Oh Jay, you worry too much" Nya said wrapping her arm around his waist and leaning her head on his shoulder.

His breathing hitched slightly at the contact, he could smell her hair and her skin mmm so heavenly he thought as he wrapped one arm around her shoulder, feeling her move closer again. Jay leaned back on the sand and looked up to watch the stars appearing but Nya remained sitting up looking at the waves.

"What are you thinking about Nya?"

"Just how peaceful it is at the moment, the sound of the waves rolling gently up onto the shore, the wind in the trees ya know peace and quiet."

"Yeah I know what that is hehe...No I mean what's on your mind?" Jay questioned avoiding eye contact as his eyes were facing the night sky.

"I was thinking about...u-us...I mean maybe we could go for a night time swim."

Jay raised his eyebrow, smirking "really you wanna swim now...it's pretty dark Nya."

"It's not that dark Jay, the moon is out look that's all the light we need, I'll go and ask the others too...come on it'll be fun."

"Sure let me get a bite to eat and I'll join you then...you coming too?"

"No I'm not hungry yet...maybe later though" Nya said as she removed her over clothes stripping down to her swimsuit.

Jay turned around trying to peel his eyes off her as she removed her top exposing her toned upper arms and covered chest, he turned around awkwardly bumping into Kai.

"Whoa Jay, ya going somewhere huh."

"Actually yeah...I'm going to get something to eat...you coming or is it just me? hehe."

"Nah, I'm waiting for the meat feast to come out, Zane cooking some mean steaks ya know and you're gonna fill up on chicken and tofu, you weirdo haha." Kai said ruffling Jay's hair when he walked past.

"What fireboy I'm hungry...it takes a lot of energy to run as fast as I did today...besides Zane had mentioned how good they were for muscle, tissues and skin health and because it's healthier to eat...so ner."

"Ha Jay if you keep eating like that, you'll be like Cole."

"Yeah whatever hothead, haha whatevs you just jealous cos I got all the energy and you just got a flame haha...ahh I'm joking Kai lighten up pffft hahahaha" Jay laughed as he ran off up the beach before Kai could catch up.

"Oooh chicken salad and tofu yumm, how long will the steaks take Mr Freeze? cos I'm so hungry."

"Jay the steak will probably take another five minutes no longer, I'll call you all when they're ready."

"Coolio thanks Zane." Jay walked off cheerfully with his plate of food and large glass of water and sat around the campfire eating it as fast as he could, savouring each tasty morsel as if it was his first and only meal.

Lloyd was keeping the fire lit by adding copious amounts of extra wood onto it "Hey Jay, looks like it's gonna be a dry one tonight, so no tents needed."

"Thank god for that, the thought of putting up a tent with a belly full of food is asking for indigestion haha, plus I don't mind sleeping under the stars in fact I'm sure I used ta do it when I lived in the junk yard...well actually maybe not...too many snakes and bugs eurgh."

"Hey Cole, where's your food?" Jay questioned chewing his food between talking "Cos I'm the only one eating...you lot are making me feel like a greedy guts, but I can't help it I'm so hungry."

"Jay, you surprise me I didn't know you had such a ravenous appetite haha."

"Well you'd probably be the same if you had one of those tubes stuck in your nose, feeding you fluids for however long it took...urgh even the burps from that stuff made me gag"

"Just take it easy dude...hey looks like Nya wants you." Cole said motioning towards Nya who was waving at Jay to come over.

Jay ate his last morsel of food and ran off to join her by the shoreline where she was sitting in the shallow water, he saw down next to her feeling the cool water lapping at his legs. She wrapped her arms around his waist again and hugged him tightly, which he wasn't expecting as the hug released a suppressed burp which Jay painfully hid with a wince, putting his hand to his mouth to cover up the resulting smell of semi digested food.

"Nya, you wanna swim?" Jay smirked mischievously "Come on it'll be fun...you said so yourself hehe." Jay said as he got up and offered his hands to Nya to help her up, he kept her hands in his own as he walked backwards whilst keeping his eyes on Nya's beautiful happy face. She was biting her cherry red lips and staring into his colourless grey eyes as her pupils began dilating.

"Are you okay Nya...err because...I mean err after this all happened with Pythor and Skales you kinda ignored me." Jay said feeling the cold chill of the water on his bare chest.

"I'm sorry Jay...I stupidly believed in the first match machine, it cast doubts in my mind and I realise I shouldn't put my heart into machines that claim to tell you who to love." Nya said closing the gap a little more as the water now covered their shoulders.

"But we'd been steady for a few years even after that machine...it was just you and me Nya...I thought you loved me."

"I do love you Jay...I still do" Nay said as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders pulling him deeper into the water, his toes barely touching the sand bed beneath. Nya closed the gap and kissed Jay on the lips "I loved you from the minute I saw you and you'll always be my blue Jay" she pulled him a little deeper so their feet were completely free of the sand underneath.

"I'm sorry...I just snapped, the whole thing with Skales and Pythor scared me...and I took it out on you...I'm sorry Jay...I do love you."

"Really...you love me...I err...thanks Nya...I err l-love you too" Jay panted with Nya's arms draped on his shoulders...

"Should w-we let the guys know how f-far out we are?" Jay shuddered awkwardly as she started to become possessive.

"No we'll be fine out here, we're both adults hehe"

"Gotta say the o-ocean looks b-beautiful at night time, it looks a-alive" Jay said as he dived out of Nya's arms under the sea to look around popping back up the surface a few seconds later with his hair stuck to his forehead.

"Snorkel and mask would be great around now, can you see these bright little creatures, they're all congregating around me...hahaha weird little things."

"No I can only see black dark mysterious water, there's nothing there Jay" Nay said swimming back over to jay who was still treading water trying to keep afloat.

She linked her arms back onto his shoulders making him sink a little deeper "why do you keep moving away Jay...are you playing hard to get?"

"N-no Nya not a-at all...just cold...I'm just cold." Jay lied, he was cold but he wasn't sure what Nya was playing at and his muscles were starting to protest.

"Well why didn't you say, lets go for a swim then up to that buoy it's only fifty metres away." Nya pointed at the red buoy up ahead "I tell you what I'll give you a head start."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever I can swim ya know, no we'll just race in three, two, one go" Jay shouted as he swam off towards the red lit buoy.

* * *

Warning people don't eat and swim so soon after a heavy meal :o


	17. A night to remember

Jay swam off in the direction of the flashing red buoy, leaving Nya in his wake. She smirked as she saw him swimming of trying to get a head start.

She swam quickly and used her element to propel herself through the water catching up with Jay in an instant, he saw her swimming next to him so quickened his pace further, Jay was so competitive.

"Jay you never told me you were a good swimmer, this is impressive" Nya said hardly out of breath.

"Hehe well...I...used to...have...swimming lessons...when I was...younger." he replied between breaths, "Whew can we stop for a bit...I'm aching."

"You'll lose Jay, come on only a few more meters then we can go and get some food."

"Damn...you're a taskmaster...aren't ya?" Jay smirked taking in a mouth full of salt water instead of air, which he immediately regretted as he started hacking violently, his hands clutching his chest..."I'm fine Nya...gahh I hate sea water." he wheezed and continued the last ten meters grasping hold of the metal buoy as he attempted to breath.

"Race you back to the shore line….first one there gets the best cut of meat, unless Cole and Kai get there first…" Nya smirked and splashed him playfully.

"Sheesh, Nya I can't yet...let me get my breath...back...you go I'll catch up." Jay said panting his face mixed into that of shock and disappointment when he saw Nya swim off.

"Ok, but if you're too slow you'll miss the best steaks hehe." Nya laughed and swam off leaving Jay clinging onto the metal buoy which was eerily ringing and reminding Jay of a certain shark movie.

"Yeah I'll be fine here don't worry about me..." Jay said swimming a few meters out and back towards the shore.

"Argh damn it cramp and stitch." Jay rubbed his thigh madly but it was no good he needed heat not cold. He floated in the water for a few more seconds, his muscle was completely locked up now, spasms travelling up his legs the longer he stayed treading water.

"Maybe I'll just float for a bit, paddle backwards hehe no rocks around so I'm not likely to injure myself" he said to himself and filled his lungs up with as much air as he could, using his arms and hands to even out his body from his vertical position to a horizontal one, allowing him to relax on the surface.

"Now all's I gotta do is float...I mean how hard could that be right" Jay said as he paddled his hands gently in the direction of the beach towards his brothers voices "hahaha easy as pie see I'm a pro at this...oww damn cramp pains."

Jay looked to his side he was between two rather looking odd buoys which looked vastly different to the one that Cole had swam out to earlier one of them was banking heavily on its side, the bell droning on, making Jay shudder in fear as if a shark was tugging at it.

He stopped floating and submerged his body back in the water keeping his head afloat, taking another look at the buoy in confusion. "how odd, could have sworn I swam past those already."

* * *

"Hey Zane, ooh good steaks, that one please.." Nya stated, "Jay will probably want that one...when he gets out of the water." she said absentmindedly as she walked away with her plate of food sitting down by her ninja team who were all looking at her in confusion.

"Err Nya, where's Jay?" Lloyd asked looking around to see further down the darkened beach front.

"He's still in the water."

"How far out is he? he can't swim far ya know." Cole said as he put a large piece of rare steak in his mouth.

"He's on the red buoy, we swam out there together, he's actually quite a strong swimmer."

"You left him there?" Cole's face was showing shock, "which buoy Nya?"

"The red light buoy why?" Nya questioned with some concern "why?".

"Because that second buoy identifies a riptide, well a dangerous area."

"Cole maybe I should go, I'm a strong swimmer I can bring him back in." Zane countered "besides you shouldn't really swim on a full stomach."

"Err Jay did." Lloyd mumbled with a mouthful of food before stopping and looking panic stricken at the ocean.

"Oh shit, Zane go get him quick." Cole spat, a piece of food flying out of his mouth, his plate falling to the floor as he stood pointing to the black still looking ocean.

* * *

Zane ran off towards the shore line calculating roughly where Jay could be, scanning the water for any signs of life, relief when he sensed someone only fifty metres out. The life he sensed wasn't in any apparent danger, but he was suffering from cramp which Zane thought would be due eating so much before swimming.

He waded into the water, he noted the temperature had dropped significantly, since the sun was no longer heating it, meaning the longer Jay stayed in it the more risk of Hypothermia he would have. He was up to his shoulders before he started swimming, looked behind him seeing Cole and Lloyd standing by with towels for when they got out. Zane searched around utilising his bright eyes as flashlights, he saw Jay paddling madly, cramp had obviously taken hold.

Zane didn't notice the warning buoy banking steeply until he was next to it at which point it was too late. He was being pulled out to sea, Jay saw him and grabbed onto his nindroid brother as tightly as he could with his free hand, an intense feeling in his chest as he held firmly onto the buoy.

"It's no good it's a rip tide, we can't swim back...I've already tried." Jay hissed out of breath, wincing every so often.

"Hmm well the only logical conclusion would be to ride it out until the rip tide ends...it won't be too far out...just beyond the breaking waves so approximately another three hundred feet or so."

"But that could take us out into...err...uhm...well...uhm open water...there's big scary creatures in the open water Zane, ya know sharks and stuff."

"Are you scared of sharks Jay, I didn't know you had phobias?"

"N-no...well, maybe." Jay winced and shook his head, holding tightly onto the metal buoy shivers wracking his tired body "Yes...I guess I am or I do." he chuckled despite himself.

"Hmm, ok, well they are attracted by splashing around, so they say."

"Whose they? people in shark cages or the seals, surfers...oh god..." Jay started to panic, he didn't want to swim out in to open water, the thought terrified him. Zane had to snap him out of his thoughts.

"Jay we have no choice, do you think you can make it out and back again...it might help to warm you up at least." Zane reasoned, he was concerned Jay's core temperature was constantly dropping.

"Zane, I was warm up until a few seconds ago when you mentioned swimming out there..."

"I've got mad cramp and now this too." he said lifting his chest up a little out of the water, showing an angry purple mark directly under his scar.

"Does it hurt Jay...I can't support you for long once we're in open water."

"No well it did when I stretched, but now it just feels warm and..." Jay didn't want to admit it felt heavy too, he knew what that meant.

"Look fine let's just get this over with...otherwise I'll change my mind and stay on this buoy all night if I have to."

"Hold onto me Jay, I'll try to steady you, don't be scared and try to remain calm." Zane spoke calmly to Jay, he prised his own hand off the buoy with a pained expression, his eyes widening in panic as he felt the current pulling him away. Panic setting in rapidly, he began fighting against the surging pull of the strong current, his body refusing to let go of his only hope, despite his pain increasing tenfold.

Zane dived underneath him, pulling him rapidly underwater in an attempt to stop the panic altering his mind. It might not have been the best idea as Jay kicked back as his quest for survival kicked in, kicking Zane in the face and launching his nindroid brother further out into the current. He tried and struggled in vain to get back to Jay but he just wasn't fast enough no matter how fast he propelled his legs, the tide pulling him back.

"Jay... **JAY YOU NEED TO SWIM TOWARDS ME**...you're going to wear yourself out if you don't stop."

Jay could hear a voice trying to break through his clouded vision "Z-Zane...I-I cant do this...I-I'm scared."

"Trust me Jay...swim to me...nothing will happen."

"Ha y-yeah r-right Z-Zane...s-so cold...I can't b-believe I'm d-doing this" he shivered turning around with his eyes closed, the completely unnatural feeling of being pulled out to sea was terrifying alone to a strong swimmer, which Jay liked to think he was. Now he wasn't so sure, he opened his eyes again and used his stiffened legs to swim to Zane who was twenty feet ahead and still moving.

"S-so tired Zane...and c-cold...someone needs to i-invent a warm v-vest that keeps you w-warm when its c-c-cold."

"Come on Jay...keep swimming to me, I can't swim to you, the current is too strong."

"I don't l-like it Zane, the water i-is so c-cold and d-dark." the feeling of something slithering under his feet made his eyes roll back in terror. "S-something just touched m-my legs...Z-Zane."

Zane scanned the water for other life forms, seemingly impressed that his systems were still fully functioning and extremely water tight, he decided not to mention what he had just seen on his scan for fear of Jay drowning, he seemed to be keeping it together quite well despite their situation and the addition of ocean dwelling mammals thrown in for good measure.

I-I can't do this Zane...I err need to go back to the err the shore...Argh ouch..fuck, fuck, fuck...w-what the hell was th-that." Jay winced in pain, his ankle was throbbing.

"I swear to the first spinjitsu master that whatever just bit me is gonna end up as my dinner, it doesn't work the other way round douchebag." he shouted into the dark ominous water.

He swam like his life depended on it, swimming through the pain of worsening cramp to get to Zane who was now much closer thanks to his fast swimming strokes.

He turned onto his back performing a back crawl and saw to his utter horror a fin following him..." **SHIT...WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT ZANE**...is it a dolphin?"

"Maybe..."Zane replied calmly. "They say that dolphins will attempt to protect against sharks, they are incredibly intelligent mammals Jay."

"R-really is that so...anything else, like can you differentiate just by the dorsal fin?" Jay chuckled nervously as he quickly approached Zane he seemed to be floating perfectly on his back.

"Jay just swim to me as fast as you can...please, focus on me." Zane pleaded with Jay, he inflated his artificial lungs as much as he could, so he was mostly floating.

"Whoa Zane impressive, didn't know titanium could float, you got watertight sections in there too huh? Ya know like the Titanic" he asked and haphazardly attempted to climb onto Zane toppling over the other side right into the oncoming dorsal fin.

"Fuck…..shark." Jay swam backwards in a panic but Zane grabbed him and hauled him quickly onto the top of his own metal body, keeping them both afloat.

The shark was still circling, following the trail of blood, and it mistakenly tried to bite Zane, but recoiled as its sensitive snout made contact with solid metal. The nindroid cringed, it was apparent the bite had just dislodged a water tight plate protecting his pneumatics for his foot, meaning the compartment was steadily filling with sea water.

A hindrance perhaps but one that potentially would cause his foot to seize up soon, the lubricating oil spilled gently around Zane and he frowned at it knowing he would need repairs once back on board the Bounty.

"Thanks Zane...how was the steak, did you save me a piece?" Jay asked as he lay his head on his brothers hard chest.

"I have a feeling it may be 'well done' now besides I am surprised you are still hungry considering how much you ate."

"I just have a really big appetite now..." Jay said yawning bringing his arms up resting them under his face like a pillow, allowing the motion of the waves to lull him to sleep.

"Since when?" Zane asked quietly, moving his toes carefully to make sure that no other compartments were filling.

"Since uhm...well since they took my power, I get so hungry now...if I don't eat I just feel ill and tired."

"Thanks for coming for me Zane…I would have probably stayed out there all night…" Jay yawned again and closed his eyes.

"You don't need to thank me Jay, it was the right thing to do." Zane replied, he smiled hearing his brothers calmed breathing, his now limp body indicating he had fallen asleep.

* * *

 **A few minutes earlier on the beach**

"What is taking them so long, Zane should be back by now...maybe I should go in."

"No Cole, you said it yourself, if it's a riptide it'll be too dangerous...I guess Zane must have a plan."

"Yeah and that's what scares me, he's going to go out into open water..."

"Yeah that's not an issue is it?"

"Kind of, Jay is terrified of open water, ever since watching Jaws anyway a few months ago."

"Oh...but what choice does he have?"

"Well knowing Jay, he'll probably want to stay attached to that buoy all night until the coast guard arrives, unless Zane can reason with him."

"Can you see them, the bright red light is distracting me."

"Well that's the point of the light, it's meant as a warning, can't believe Nya didn't notice it, I can see Zane's eyes...just about...god how far out are they?"

"They're almost out into open water...I hope they're okay. Should we contact the coast guard?"

"No but someone needs to tell Misako or Sensei Wu, anything could happen out there." Cole said as he ran off towards the roped anchor of the Destiny's Bounty, climbing it as if his life or Jay's depended on it.

He ran to the control deck, sweat pouring of his face at over exerting himself, he programmed the large system to pinpoint to their current location, focusing on Zane's power source. Cole set the alarm off notifying Misako and Wu of their brothers immediate danger, advising them to hold on to something as he grabbed hold of the large wooden steering wheel steering it where the bright flashing power source was flashing.

Misako rushed into the control room and motioned Cole to look over board to see if he could see anything. He grabbed a large torch and secured it within the rigging so it would cast a bright spot light down onto the black ocean below. Relief when he saw Zane swimming on his back, it looked like the riptide had ended, Jay was face down on Zane's chest, he looked worn out.

* * *

Cole's heart was pounding in his chest, he lowered the rope ladder and climbed down quickly, jumping into the brisk cold water to help Zane. Jay looked like a drowned rat, his hair stuck to his face, his body was cold and his extremities were wrinkly like an old mans fingers after being in a bath for too long.

"What happened Zane?"

"He needs warming up quickly, and he needs these stitching up, Zane said pointed to Jay's ankle, "Other than that he's perfectly fine, a little tired perhaps."

"Oh and I believe time is of the essence, this was a shark bite..."

Cole squeaked unintentionally but grabbed Jay firmly and allowed Zane a firm grip before signalling up to Misako to pull them up using the winch.

Once safely aboard Cole looked down to Jay's ankle, seeing a few minor lacerations, one of which had a pearly white tooth sticking out of it indicating the fact it was stuck in a bone, the thought made him shudder but he lifted him regardless and carried him through to the infirmary again.

"Sorry Jay I know you wanted to be out of here but this is just for tonight...okay buddy, you get some rest Jay." Cole replied and yanked the tooth from his ankle, casting it aside into a sterile pot so Misako could dress it.

Cole placed Jay onto the bed and grabbed a handful of warm blankets layering them carefully avoiding the bite marks. He grabbed a towel without much thought as a tray of probably sterile tools was on it which clattered to the floor, making Cole cringe. He used the towel to gently dry him, removing his wet hair from his face and warming him up in the process, his lips were almost blue, but he was still smiling.

"Mmmmm okay Cole...thank you."

Cole smiled sitting back next to Jay, "You did well out there Jay, well impressed when did you find out it was a rip tide?"

"When I swam against it, Zane found that out too."

Jay winced again "It's surprising really how much a nindroid weighs when the weight of metal is pulling you out to sea as well...I think I tore something." Jay replied and stretched out.

"Do you need pain relief for it...Don't want you suffering in silence bro, you've done too much of that recently."

"Can I have a look...where does it hurt Jay?" Cole gently questioned.

"M-my chest."

Cole bit his lip and pulled back the blankets, lifting up Jay's tank top, it was true there was a new injury there, well an old one which looked bad.

The warmed covers were pulled over the blue ninja before he left the infirmary and Cole as the strongest in body and mind went to check on Zane to see if he needed anything, he was fairly sure that Jay would be okay for a few more minutes at least.

* * *

"Zane...is everything alright?" He asked staring at his nindroid brother, noting his foot plate seemed to be missing revealing a glimpse of Zane Cole had never seen before.

"The same shark tried to bite me, the foot plate dislodged, it sank unfortunately and that left me with this."

"So what you doing, do you need help." Cole asked sitting next to him.

"I'm cleaning my feet...if you will, with a highly pressurised form of ionised water, which aims to remove any traces of sodium. It is a lengthy process but once that is done I can lubricate the joints so they do not seize up." Zane stopped and put the pressurised water gun down and picking up a highly pressurised air tool.

"So blowing the water away too...?" Cole asked putting his hands over his ears as the loud motor started up.

"Yes, that is correct, my exoskeleton may be titanium but I don't want to risk it with my internal workings...and rust is terrible for metal." he replied with a smile.

"Can you pass me that can of oil?"

Cole passed him the blue tin which had a small thin straw attached for precision aim and watched with intrigue as he proceeded to spray his metal metatarsals, the likes of which he had never seen before. They looked like miniscule pneumatic toes and joints, he was truly a work of art….a masterpiece created by a genius.

"All done...hopefully!" Zane stood and placed his foot down carefully allowing his toes to flatten giving him full balance again.

"How is our patient Cole?" his foot evened the weight dispersal allowing him to stand as if nothing had happened.

"He's resting, I removed the tooth and Misako cleaned him up, I reckon he'll be sleeping like a baby for the next few hours at least if not until tomorrow." Cole joked and pulled Zane out of the inventing room where Jay seemed to have all the best tools and gadgets to hand.

"Come on, you might need to check him anyway, his chest doesn't look too good."

"He mentioned something in the water when he took my weight, he tore an internal stitch so if you like you can assist."

"Uhm s-sure, wouldn't Misako be better suited though?"

"No…not always."

"Come Cole, it will be an educational journey for you."

"Ugh…..I'm not sure about this Zane, I'm not a doctor."

"You can stand and observe, so that means monitoring his breathing and so on." Zane paused picking up the last vial of morphine and loading the syringe with an ample amount for the procedure.

"Can you do that, constant feedback please, pulse, respiration, blood oxygen levels."

"S-sure I can but what exactly are you going to do, I mean I understand we can't go to the hospital anymore as the Serpentine have infiltrated it."

"It is a simple procedure, but he'll likely need antibiotics because off the bite and because of what I'm about to do." Zane stated as he injected the syringe allowing the pain relief to float into his blood stream numbing and sedating him all over.

He switched on the machines, checking the baseline observations before he began, his surgical instruments laid out before him, he only needed a few namely a scalpel, a suture kit and some saline to wash out the wound so he could see clearly.

"Blood pressure is holding at 120 over 80, pulse is uhm 80, breathing at 20 breaths per minute." Cole said and looked away from the clock. He watched as Zane pushed the scalpel down applying a small amount of pressure to the angry red bruise that had formed under Jay's scar.

He recoiled when a large amount of blood spilled from it but quickly passed Zane a sterile cloth to soak it up so he could get at the torn stitch quickly. Zane used the needleless syringe to soak the area thoroughly with saline, seeing the small tear in the process. He grasped the suture kit and asked Cole to read the observations as he began.

"Almost done, just need to make sure that these dissolve….I-I…..WHAT?"

"Zane…?" Cole asked worriedly, he looked away from the clock. "What is it?"

"I-I can't believe they used non dissolvable ones in the hospital…these should be…dissolvable stitches." Zane looked flustered and tirelessly got back to work.

"What? did they stitch his internal wounds up using regular ones?" Cole asked with the same puzzled face.

" **YES**." Zane replied angrily, Cole having never seen Zane angry before, it shook him a little.

"Non-dissolve able stitches are meant to be removed after two weeks otherwise the wound will never fully heal and the scar will be worse."

"But why did they use those?" Cole asked holding Jay's hand tightly, stroking his hair out of his face.

"I know why, but you won't like it Cole!…." Zane replied cryptically, and began replacing each stitch with the dissolvable counterpart.

"Just spill it Zane, tell me…..fairly sure I can handle it."

"The doctors were not expecting him to survive his injuries and therefore the stitches would have remained intact even after embalming in fact until the burial and long after."

"That's horrific, they gave up on him…..what the f**k Zane."

"Sorry, blood pressure still stable 110 over 80, pulse 90, breaths 10 per minute…..oxygen levels stable." Cole grasped hold of Jay's hand tightly, rubbing it gently trying to warm him up again.

"How much longer Zane, he's feeling cold again?"

"I have almost finished but I digress it took longer than expected as I had to remove the sheer amount of silk ones replacing them with dissolvable ones…"

"Will he be up and around tomorrow then?" Cole asked as Zane closed Jay's wound which appeared larger than ever.

"No he might not wake for a few days and to be fair Cole he needs rest." Zane paused and wiped the blood from Jay's chest admiring his exceptional suturing skills.

"He had plenty of exercise today more than he should have really for his body was not adequately prepared for such strenuous activity. Sensei mentioned it to me, he thought he utilised too much of it…he needs to learn restraint…..a slow and long process."

"Cole go and get freshened up, you smell like the sea….trust me you'll feel much better." The nindroid cleaned the area surrounding Jay and placed a new dressing over his chest before covering him in a multitude of blankets.


	18. Another adventure? count me in

It would appear that the ninja brethren had decided amongst themselves, that they would be spending the night on the beach save for Zane who was busy welding a new foot plate on. The nindroid had to make sure he would have a watertight seal as before because water in mechanical parts was akin to using a motor without oil….the parts would rub and eventually cease up causing friction damage and fractures in the metal, fragments of said metal would break of and cause further damage.

In all seriousness, Zane would end up becoming more electrically charged than Jay and in turn he would eventually become (for want of a better word) a giant magnet. So he largely wanted to avoid that and had taken the opportunity to stay off the sand at least until he could be sure his repair was watertight as before.

Zane is his wisdom had decided to stay on board, mostly to keep an eye on Jay as per usual, it seemed like that was all he had been doing. The new issue he faced had diverted his attention from feeling like an overqualified nurse and he grasped it with both hands, feeling a little part of his old life coming back.

No, it wasn't that he didn't care about his team mates, he did. He cared for them as he would hope they would for him but recently it was all he had been doing. He thought about his father, the genius who had created him and why he was created, which led him back to finding out about being a robotic android. It was Jay's choice to call him a ninja droid or nindroid and Zane had agreed, once he had come to terms with it.

' _Is this all that I am now? Am I resigned to spend my time being a medical professional when I would much prefer to increase my skills training and fighting?'_

He sighed and finally finished his repairs, putting the welding torch back on the bench, removing his protective face mask with his other hand. He admired the foot plate and regarded it as a wound, another one he wore proudly, one that would have a story to tell in years to come about how he saved his brother from certain death at the possible jaws of a tiger shark.

' _Why am I now feeling guilt for thinking such things, maybe a system wide glitch. Perhaps I will attempt to reconfigurate my neural drives and central processing units during shutdown and reboot protocols.'_

Once he stood, he checked the watertight barrier again, squirting a high pressurised water stream at his foot and smiled when. His system status read acceptable levels, no water moisture evident except for the immediate humidity surrounding him. His mechanical workings were, for now, watertight as before.

Typically after he had welded a new titanium footplate on, he did the final relevant checks on Jay. Once everything was as it should be he dimmed the lights on board and retired to his own sleeping quarters for some well needed rest. After all, he had spent a fair amount of energy on swimming, running, cooking and floating, as well as repairing himself and performing lifesaving surgical proceedures to boot.

' _I am sure that when we are older, maybe sensei's ourselves, that we may look back on this episode and smile fondly.'_ Zane thought as he lay his head back on his bed, smiling when Cole had walked back in to the shared bedroom with a towel wrapped around him.

* * *

He had even managed to persuade Cole to enjoy himself, telling him that he needed to spend some quality time with his team and the black ninja had simply agreed and followed the order.

As soon as Cole had rinsed the salt water from his hair and skin he dressed in dry warm clothes but before he left the Bounty he grabbed a spare sleeping bag. He quickly checked in on Jay who was sleeping with a smile on his face, morphine was obviously doing its job well.

Cole smirked and closed the infirmary door gently and then disembarked from the Wooden ship via the ramp. His feet sank into the soft dry sandy beach making his journey slower than usual as he adjusted his strides to accommodate the fact that he couldn't move as fast at least whilst he was on this type of terrain.

"It's annoying to walk to on during the day because it's too damned hot and its annoying at night because it freaking cold." He grumbled to himself and cringed as it the sand stuck to his still damp toes creating an uncomfortable rubbing friction.

If he was honest with himself, the master of earth was still shaken up and also slightly cold after jumping into the ocean a few hours prior. It hadn't scared him as such but if the shark had been any bigger, well, Jay would be dead for sure and whose fault was that?

' _Damn it Nya, do you even care about him?'_

He made his quick journey to join Kai despite his feet sinking into the sand with every step. Lloyd and Nya were sitting on the palm fronds on the beach and Kai was sitting on a solitary log big enough for two. The closer Cole got the more he noticed, they all seemed to be drinking steaming hot drinks and holding sticks over the roaring flames of the camp fire.

* * *

Sitting around the fire was warming him up though none more so then when Kai warmed up his hot chocolate, wrapping his warmed arms around him.

"What happened Cole?" He whispered sitting closer so he could talk without disturbing Nya who had climbed into her own sleeping bag.

Lloyd had done the same, both were lying down around the fire having drank their hot chocolate. The log shifted slightly on the dry sand as Cole sat on it, leaning forward he warmed his hands on the burning embers, the hot chocolate nestled between his legs.

He took a deep sigh, "Riptide as you would imagine, you can still see it even now. You see that buoy in the distance….the warning one with the red light, well it's heavily leaning and kind of identifies a rip tide." He said with a frown but it was hidden by the dark night and the fact his face wasn't looking directly at the fire as he had spoken.

"I guess during the day we would have been able to identify it. What were they thinking going that far out though?" He asked himself but Kai answered as best as he could.

"I don't know, really I'm at a loss, guessing it might have been a bit of both."

"Personally Kai, I don't think Jay would have swam that far out in his state without a little prompting."

"Yeah I know." Kai said sheepishly and looked at Nya who had fallen asleep with a frown etched onto her face. "But everything's okay now, guess they both learned a valuable lesson!"

"You could say that but why has it always got to be him, we need Jay to be in peak fitness, this will only hold him back again."

"He'll recover though, he always does, hehe even his healing seems faster maybe his element speeds up growth too." Kai suggested and laughed.

Cole's face was un-moving as he spoke, his chiselled features not showing any emotion, just concern. "Jay was petrified, according to Zane." He added bringing Kai's gaze back to him.

"As I thought he would be….and for good reason too." He grabbed his water and took a drink before setting it down at his side. "You remember me saying how he hates deep water?"

"Uhuh?" Kai nodded slowly.

"Well he got bitten by a shark, not a big one judging by the bite, pulled this out of his ankle bone though…"

Cole retrieved the shark tooth which still had remnants of shark gum on it…"hehe I'm thinking of making it into a necklace for him hehhee." He pulled out some thin black leather straps and proceeded to pull them taught, creating a knot of sorts that he quickly secured to the hideous tooth.

"Fuck! That's razor sharp, anything else I mean is he okay now? I mean a shark bite is traumatic enough right."

"He'll get over it, might not want to swim in the ocean for a while though." Cole laughed. "At least until we deal with the shark population hahaha."

"Were not fishermen Cole, don't think Sensei Wu would approve of it to be fair."

"I'm joking Kai, sheesh get a grip, you're just as bad as Zane."

"Hey no fair, that wasn't even a funny joke Cole. You need to spend more time with Jay if you wanna outdo his jokes." He huffed and shook his head looking up to the clear night sky.

"So other than the fact that you still need some serious help with humour is there anything else?" Kai flicked a piece of trapped meat from his teeth with his tongue.

"Uhm yeah, Jay had to have some minor surgery on his scar, he burst a stitch when he pulled Zane against the flow, ya know Zane is pretty heavy even more so when you add in a strong current." Cole said, angrily poking the fire growling when the end of his stick broke.

"…..Stupid doctors used the wrong ones on him…..selfish pricks."

"What?" Kai stopped drinking his forever hot chocolate.

"They gave up on him Kai, the ones they used are used to hold a wound closed until the person is buried, the ones that the mortician uses, strong stitches that never allow the wound to heal fully."

"Zane had to remove them and replace them all with dissolvable ones, so Jay's gonna feel like shit for a few days at least….not much blood loss either which was a huge relief as we don't exactly have a blood bank on board."

"Urgh gross, so that's why he was so quick to suggest organ donation, because he'd done a shoddy job of repairing the damage." He flicked another burst of fire at the un-burnt log near the back of the neat burning embers.

Cole grabbed another stick and loaded it with three marshmallows looking at Kai. "Yeah something like that."

"I guess when we're too old for this shit Zane might have a future in surgery….." Kai suggested and smirked as he set fire to Cole's marshmallows.

"Whoa, what?" Cole fumed and blew the flames out on his now singed and blackened marshmallows that looked somewhat inedible and possibly carcinogenic.

"Ooh sorry maybe next time keep a better watch, you know fire is pretty hot right?" Kai smirked again and flat out laughed. "Sorry Cole, here have some more."

Cole shook his head and took the bag off Kai, cautiously slipping one fluffy marshmallow onto the end of his stick before staring at it intently as he lowered it back over the fire.

"Thanks and next time don't burn perfectly good food, its sacrilege" Cole smirked and gave Kai a dead arm in response for getting his fingers sticky with melted burnt marshmallow.

"Cole, look there's some I gotta tell you and it isn't about Jay. It affects all of us."

Cole's ears pricked up and his attention dropped from watching his sweet snack roasting on the fire, he turned to one of his best friends to enquire. "So what is it? Come on spill the beans, another adventure, new villains?"

"Haa, so eager. Well you realise we still have the serpentine to deal with."

"Yeah sorta." Cole shrugged his shoulders "So what's happening with the cowardly cave dwellers then?"

"Not entirely sure, but we all know them, I mean ya know they're always planning something."

"Yeah, but why have they suddenly started again, ya know with the whole serpentine wars thing, the devourer and the failed Anacondrai takeover, it's like they don't learn."

"The Anacondrai, well, that was Clouse and Chen." Kai replied quickly, "But yeah, they don't learn."

Kai drank the last remains of his hot chocolate and placed the cup to his side, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Pythor was used because he was tiny and I guess he still held us responsible for that whole thing. What with being shrunk to 1/12th of his normal size." Kai snickered and emphasised the size with his fingers.

The master of earth stared back at his now caramelised marshmallow eagerly. "Yeah but why did he target Jay then?" He asked and bit carefully into the now gooey snack.

"I don't think he meant to Cole, I think he was targeting Zane but their aim was off and Jay got hit instead."

"Some terrible shot that was huh? If they'd got Zane, god knows what they would've done to him. Maybe reprogrammed him or something equally as adventurous."

Kai simply watched Cole stuffing his face with the melted marshmallow, "Well, either way I think we need to protect Zane. I mean Jay is on the mend right?"

"Sorta on the mend." Cole replied cryptically vague.

Kai took a deep breath in and sighed, "Cole, look, I thought I should let you know that Lloyd has suggested that we go back to Ninjago city soon, maybe tomorrow.

Cole span his head quickly to look at Kai, his free hand brushing his black hair from his face. "What! Why so soon?"

"Simply? Because there have been rumours of Serpentine causing trouble…..at the hospital where uhm, Rose works."

"Wha….What? Tomorrow, I-I guess I can go for that. I wasn't expecting it to be so soon ya know a little notice is always handy but come on less than 24 hours!" Cole stated, looking at Kai in the fire light, his face was deadly serious.

"Ugh…" A resignated sigh left Cole's lips, "Fine, so what time does Lloyd want to set off anyway?"

"Sunrise after training…so a suggestion for ya, get some sleep." Kai replied getting up off the log which tilted slightly on the sand as the weight adjusted. He patted Cole gently on the back and stalked off to find his sleeping bag.

"What, you're going to sleep now? After dropping that bombshell…" Cole asked with a stupendous look on his face, most of his look of shock was hidden by the fire as it died down to smouldering embers.

Kai hurriedly kicked off his flip flops before vigorously shaking his sleeping bag, ridding it of any potential crabs or snakes or scorpions, anything that might have crawled into it.

"Yup, I'm going to sleep _now_."

"Besides we're sleeping under the stars tonight because as of tomorrow we'll be back near the city….so take advantage while you still can." Kai murmured and climbed into his sleeping bag, using his red hoodie as his soft pillow.

* * *

Cole stood and followed suit, shaking his before climbing into it, zipping it right up to his ears. He turned and looked at the infirmary light on board the Bounty, he was worried about Jay for he remembered all to painfully how hard Lloyd had found it when he found his ultimate potential.

Once he found it he was hounded by none other than the Overlord, but for Lloyd it was expected that he would find his true potential. He was and still is the prophesized green ninja of energy but Jay wasn't meant to be, it could either be his beginning or downfall furthermore he could easily die as his element was unstable.

Lloyd almost did die, well he got hurt on the dark island, hell everyone did, Jay even took a mace to the head and yet somehow survived. The Overlord turned them all evil, one by one by way of the Overlord possessed Lord Garmadon and that dark matter.

The only thing on Cole's mind before he fell asleep was a vision of Jay being destroyed by his own element, maybe if he hadn't have screamed out at that part of his dream he may have seen the rest of the dream. Not everything that comes from lightning is death and destruction, sometimes it leads to regrowth and rebirth….from light comes life.

Cole sat up sweating, his head in his hands, the fire was smouldering, the flames all but gone from the make shift camp fire. Everyone else was still sleeping undisturbed by Cole's recent outburst, even the lights on the Bounty were off, the one in the infirmary was set to a low light. The master of earth lay back down and turned to face Kai, staring annoyingly at Nya who lay at Kai's feet, Lloyd was below Cole's feet in a circular pattern around the camp fire but far enough away to be safe from flying burning embers.

' _What were you thinking Nya, do you even love him or are you just trying to destroy him again?'_

The more Cole thought about it the more he realised that he cared more for Jay than Nya did, he could see she was playing him, trying to get him to fall for her again but all the time pulling him along like a dog on a leash.

' _Maybe he likes to be treated like that…..no I'm fairly sure he doesn't but how to make him see sense.'_

All the master of earth could see was a pitiful image of his brother in blue being paraded around by Nya, her trophy husband who fumbled with his words and actions around her and her friends.

He would always be like that because of her…because of Nya. He bit his lip and stared at the Bounty until he envisioned something else entirely which shocked him to the core. He pictured himself hugging Jay, a tight and closer embrace than usual, telling him everything would be okay and that he would be there for him no matter what.


	19. Lost it

The ninja, the ones who chose to sleep under the stars last night, were grumbling to themselves as they shook and rolled their sleeping bags up. Lloyd, although he didn't want to admit it, had actually enjoyed these past few days of team bonding.

Even despite the day turning ominous with the riptide, it still hadn't darkened his mood. "Who's turn is it to make breakfast then?" He said trying to start a conversation with anyone who was awake enough to listen.

"I reckon Zane's already on it, he slept aboard last night, remember?" Cole said as he pulled his hoodie over his exposed pectorals, scooping his sleeping bag under his arm, setting a fast pace toward the dry docked ship.

"I'm famished anyway, see you on board yeah?" He had walked off at a fast pace before Lloyd or Kai even had a chance to say anything. "Slowpokes hehe." He mumbled giving a mock salute as he turned to see them.

They didn't miss the stomach rumbling sounds that followed his swift departure, nor the smells that seemed to waft across the small expanse of beach from their current location to the ramp of the Bounty.

Cole looked behind himself, he wanted to see Jay before he woke, unless he was already awake, he hadn't thought of that, he was there when Zane had used the last of the sedative, god knows how long that would take to wear off.

Cole chuckled to himself, _Jay would likely be a delirious zombie for the next three days at a guess, which meant that he would be restricted to the Bounty and under the duress of Wu and Misako_.

He could cope with that, Cole didn't want to see those same visions again, he hated seeing him in such pain without being able to do a damned thing about it. Yesterday was no exception, he watched helplessly from the beachfront as both Zane and Jay were washed out and then he remembered the look of relief on Zane's face when he dived into the sea to get both of them out.

He only thought how risky that manoeuvre was after Zane told him that there was a shark nearby. Jay was happy at least, his smile even though hidden by a swathe of wet auburn hair was still shining through.

* * *

"Morning Misako, Sensei." He said giving a polite nod of his head to both elders.

His nose was still guiding him, he could tell what was being cooked before he even saw it, and it was a battle of self-control as to what to do first. This instance, his stomach won the battle and he stopped by the kitchen to see what was on offer.

A stack of chocolate chip pancakes was being prepared by none other than Zane, Cole wasn't surprised in the slightest, he was the best in the kitchen by far.

He looked to be deep in conversation, his head tilted to the side as he was communicating with someone on his mobile device. Cole noted that his tone was professional, when wasn't it? He always spoke like that, unless his humour switch was activated. "Yes Mr Borg, we will be enroute within the next two hours. I estimate the travel time should be approximately two hours, give or take tail winds."

"Yes, and we can discuss that once we arrive."

"Because it will be beneficial to finding out about the device that was used."

Cole noted that his brother was getting a little flustered, he watched as Zane poked at the last pancake, ready to flip it when it became less sticky. "I see, well they did manage to find pieces of the original device when they left the cavern."

He flipped the pancake over and placed the spatula down. "Mr Borg, I believe it was broken, we retrieved the parts we found and they were given to PIXAL only two weeks ago."

Zane shook his head in annoyance. "We gave the _only_ pieces we found, we delivered them to your offices within a few days of the incident in question."

"Yes, but you were researching the properties of the device, matching serial numbers to blue prints and mechanised adaptations?" Cole could have sworn he saw Zane's lip twitching.

"Indeed, so they _are_ lost?" He tipped the pan, none too gently and the remaining pancakes flopped onto the plate.

"Well, then it was a good idea of mine that I scanned them into my data banks before sending them." His tone had risen considerably,

Cole had never seen Zane 'lose it', the only major fall out was when Zane had literally just got up and left but that was a few years ago. This was slightly different, he could tell the nindroid was flustered and he was doing his best to remain calm.

"We will be there as agreed, thank you. And I will pass on your well wishes."

"Thank you." He ended the call but remained tight lipped about the content.

Cole wasn't really sure what to think to the one sided conversation or the parts he had heard. Zane still had his back to him, he seemed to be busying himself with cleaning up. "Zane?"

He still hadn't turned to face his brother, he placed another pot of coffee on and proceeded to fill some jugs with fruit juice and water. He stopped eventually, as if he could feel Cole waiting for an answer. "They lost the only evidence we had found."

He turned to face Cole and his titanium faced expression was difficult to read. More so because he was a nindroid but it seemed to Cole that Zane was actually angry, for a change. "What do you mean, lost?"

"As it sounds." He replied nonchalantly. "The particles of the broken electro-magnetic field generator, EMFG for an abreviation."

Cole frowned "But we handed those in, directly. We gave them to Borg himself and liaised with him and PIXAL about the origins."

Zane nodded. "We did, and the results were mostly inconclusive, however they did provide some answers."

"So what does that mean now?"

"It means that we need to watch our selves more closely because we correctly deduced that the weapon was potentially meant for me, unfortunately it hit Jay."

Cole bit into his pancake, once he had drizzled a plentiful amount of fudge sauce over it. "It's nothing new though is it, I mean we've faced similar. This is just another adventure."

"I guess, you are right to a certain extent, but this is relative unknown territory. We, for one, do not know what the serpentine are planning and the reason that they are infiltrating such large organisations."

"Like Borg you mean?"

"Exactly, is it a coincidence that the only pieces we had had mysteriously disappeared?" Zane returned to what he was doing. "The food is going cold, you must eat." He said quietly and put on a fake smile as Kai, Lloyd and Nya walked on through with their respective sleeping bags.

He loaded a plate with a few pancakes and a tumbler of water. "I will be taking it to Jay, unless you would prefer to assist him with eating?"

Cole shot up off his chair, he didn't need any further encouragement, he took the plate and tumbler as quickly as he could without spilling a drop.


	20. Really?

"Cole?"

He turned slowly to his Sensei's voice. "Yes, Sensei?" Seeing him standing there in the hallway looking sombre wasn't a feeling he enjoyed.

"Zane mentioned of our imminent journey to the city?" Wu started and stroked his long beard. "What he may have forgotten to mention was that after we have spoken with Mr Borg we will be making a quick detour to the Tea shop. Jay will be recuperating there until he is fully recovered from his injuries."

Cole thought about it for a few seconds and no more. A part of this plan, he wasn't sure about but he never thought to question his elder, until now. "Wouldn't we be better if we stayed together? You know, stronger as a team?"

"I see your anxieties Cole, I understand these worries. Maybe you can rest assured, knowing that he will make a full and uneventful recovery away from any further danger."

"Uhm, I-I guess. I guess you're right." He sheepishly rubbed his hand through his hair "How long are we talking about here?"

"Hmm, I believe the adage is 'how long is a piece of string?'" He smiled, but Cole wasn't smiling with him.

"Until he is recovered from his injuries and when he is back to peak physical fitness, then he will be welcomed back on board to fight alongside."

"Well, if you believe that's the way to go, then I'll accept it, I mean I trust your judgement and wisdom Sensei. I'll tell him then?"

"Please, I think it may sound better coming from you."

 _I seriously doubt that!_ Cole thought but nodded to his sensei before he left.

Cole bid his sensei a quick goodbye and with a heavy heart, he carried the tray of food carefully.

* * *

He had taken the stack of pancakes and two plates with two tumblers of water, all balanced precariously on the small tray he'd been given. He approached the room and edged in backwards, due to the lack of free hands.

A smile crept onto his face when he saw Misako in the room, at least Jay hadn't been alone for too long. "How did he sleep?" He asked as he settled the tray of food next to the makeshift hospital bed.

"Actually, quite well. He's stirring now though. Plus we've managed to get him to drink a herbal healing tea." She washed his face as he lay still, running the cloth down his chest yet avoiding the wound dressing. "Do you want to tell him?"

Cole nodded. "It might sound better coming from me, is that what you're saying?"

All Misako did was smile at Cole, that told him all he needed to know. She removed the cloth from Jay's face and dabbed it dry with a towel.

His colourless eyes were now open, in a bleary fashion. He rubbed at them and looked at his immediate surroundings. Remembering some of what happened last night, the ankle pain was the only thing he remembered, he couldn't for the life of him, understand why his chest was aching again.

 _Stupid shark!_

"M-morning C-Cole." Jay managed to gasp out. He sat with some help from Misako and a few extra pillows behind his back. She soon left to get her own breakfast, leaving both Cole and Jay to talk.

"Morning sleepy head, quite a busy night huh?" He said with a small grin.

Jay shuddered, just thinking about it made his hairs stand on end. "Don't even go there, I'm not going in the sea ever again…"

"You shouldn't let fear guide you, otherwise everything that scares you would keep you away from everything and anything. You'd end up living in a bubble, or being wrapped in cotton wool."

"Well it's easy to say that I guess, but you weren't the one with a shark after you."

"But you're still here now, still alive. It was only a bite." He said as he scooped two of the five stack onto Jay's plate. "The thing that got you back on that bed was the stitches that were done in a rush."

Cole watched as Jay stroked his fingers over the dressing on his chest, it looked like it had recently been changed, the smallest amount of blood could be seen.

Resuming his focus on his pancakes, Cole began pouring way too much sauce on Jay's pancakes whilst filling his own tumbler with water. "Zane reckons you need help with eating your breakfast? I said I could do it for you."

Jay cocked his head at Cole. "Yeah, but you'd just eat it for me too, right?"

Shrugging, he looked back at his brother, "Maybe…." He paused with a sideways smirk.

"Nah, pancakes aren't my thing." He smiled but it was hiding a fib. "Look, just because it's got the word 'cakes' in doesn't mean I'd eat them all."

His scarred eyebrow was still raised, looking down at Cole with a knowing look. "Yeah right, I know you too well, you're a sucker for anything sweet!"

Jay attempted to grab at the plate but winced as he stretched. He recoiled slightly. "Maybe a little bit of help wouldn't go amiss." He said with a hint of a smile.

Cole had already cut up the pancakes into small manageable bites, much to Jay's annoyance and added way too much cream and fudge sauce to be considered a breakfast item. It looked more like a desert than anything.

He scooped a small piece in his own mouth before passing the plate to Jay to watch his coordination skills. Jay took the plate slowly, his hand was shaking slightly. Zane had mentioned it could be a side effect of the strong sedative used last night.

It would wear off eventually, besides the pain he was feeling was a sure sign that the pain relief was finally wearing off. "How ya feeling this morning?" He asked, watching from the corner of his eye as Jay struggled to lift the fork to his mouth using his usual hand. He soon switched to his other.

Cole had no idea that Jay was ambidextrous, he wondered if he was when using weapons too.

"I feel…" He paused to think about it, wiping the sauce from his chin. "Tired and sore." He wiggled his foot.

Cole nodded, "To be expected!" He looked back down at his own plate and began pushing the food around on it. "Uhm have you kept in touch with…Skye?" He mumbled almost incoherently.

He could tell Jay was piqued by the mention of _her_ name, "No." Came the quick and sharp reply.

"She said, it was too risky. She'd lose too much and she'd worked so hard for four years."

"So?" Cole inquired again. "You going to meet her again or what?" He still hadn't looked up to meet his questioning eyes.

"No!"

"Why?"

"She made it painfully clear that what _I_ thought we had was _just_ a fling, a bit of fun. It wasn't love, Cole….it was just a bit of harmless fun." He looked down for a split second and his smile faltered.

His colourless eyes were suddenly scrutinising Cole's rich green orbs. "I broke up with her. Although to be fair, it was never a relationship, to begin with, she kinda took advantage and I didn't say no." He sighed and pushed his half-eaten food away. "She was just what I needed, an 'amuse bouche' haa."

He took a short breath in, deep breaths still hurt. Still, he wanted to try and move the conversation on and the topic off him. "What about you and Rose?" If Cole could inquire about Skye then Jay could do the same. Besides, Jay thought that it was odd that Cole had pretty much written her off too, he wanted to know why.

Cole shifted uncomfortably. "Seeing her, it's still up in the air, still open." He gestured Jay to keep eating, noticing he'd only eaten half a pancake.

"I swear if you don't eat that pancake I'll feed it to you myself." Cole eyed it as lay mostly untouched with a large dollop of whip cream.

Jay wasn't perturbed by that threat of a 'mother hen' and the humiliation of being fed, if anything he shrugged, testing Cole to see if he would even dare.

He soon grabbed the plate when Cole made an attempt to grab at it first.

"Maybe…." He shoved a small mouthful in, chewing it carefully. "We should knock it on the head ya know….focus on ourselves." He said, trying to gauge any sort of reaction from Cole.

"It's not like we're having any luck with the opposite sex..." Cole replied. "Honestly, if we're being truthful."

"Speaking for yourself you mean?" He said with a smirk and then held onto cot bed rails as he felt a sudden lurch. "Nya seems okay at the moment, well, closer than she has been for months."

Noticing his sudden unease, Cole was quick to calm. "We're flying to the city, got a meeting with Borg Enterprises in a couple of hours." His strong hand came to rest on Jay's. "She's still got some explaining to do, she left you out there."

"It wasn't her fault, Cole," Jay paused and looked down in defeat. "It was mine, I shouldn't have gone in the water after eating. It's swimming 101, right?"

"Besides, she'll just shrug it off anyway. Just easier to accept the blame and move on." He sounded dejected but carried on eating even though he felt full.

"Why are we travelling to see Borg?" He asked. He had finally pushed his plate away and belched, holding his chest tightly as a stinging pain came back to haunt him.

"Something to do with the EMFG pieces going missing."

"I didn't even know we'd managed to acquire any." Jay looked puzzled for a split second. "When exactly did you find the time to get those bits?"

"When they made their initial escape." He said it like it was obvious.

"Zane said that when the charge was initially emitted from the device, the casing cracked with the force. The gap created, allowed for some important components to fall out."

"Do they know?"

Cole looked back at Jay, "Yeah I figure they do now. The pieces we found have somehow gone missing. No traces, they just disappeared." He grabbed Jay's plate and placed it back on the tray.

"That's why we're going back to the city, although, Lloyd thinks it might be best to drop you off at the Tea shop. Wu has sorta agreed with him, he thinks you'll be safer there."

Jay frowned a little at the unasked for mollycoddling. "We'd be safer if we stuck together."

Cole removed his hand from Jay's grasp. "You'll be safer at the Tea shop, it's in the middle of nowhere, as much healing tea as you can drink. Plus the surroundings are relaxing, it's zen like."

"Do I get a say in this Cole?" Jay cocked his eyebrow and sighed when Cole shook his head.

Cole stood up slowly, "Jay it's for your own good. We're going to the city first then we'll be dropping you off at the tea shop. You're too ill to come out on missions and having you on board puts you at more risk."

"Fine, if you think that's best. _I still think it's stupid and pointless_." He tailed off towards the end.

Cole nodded and hugged his brother gently, he missed the last part of what Jay had muttered under his breath. "We all do, Jay. At least until you're well enough that is. Then you'll have to get your level of fitness back."

He released him from the hug. "Wu said it might take some time though, sorry Bro. It is what it is." He scooped up the tray and smiled sadly at Jay, noting his face didn't reciprocate any emotion at all.

"Get some rest Jay, I'll come in and see you later."


	21. Ghost town

" _We're here Jay!" Cole had mumbled quietly._

 _Poking his head around the door, he saw Jay curled up on his side on the hospital bed. He walked over to him and pulled the chair to the bedside. He subconsciously stroked Jay's hair from his face as he slept._

 _Releasing a pent up sigh, he wasn't even aware he'd been holding his breath. "Jay? We're here."_

 _He didn't want to admit it to anyone, least of all Jay, but he knew he was going to miss this time apart. Cole had grown incredibly close to his brother in blue, during the last few weeks. His dreams, the night before were a testament to how he actually felt but he lacked the courage to express._

" _Jay?" He scooted closer to him, pulling the chair across the wooden floor until it was as close to the bed as possible. "I've gotta go, I-I'll keep in touch, I promise." He said biting his lip. He chanced a quick chaste kiss, placing his lips onto Jay's cheek, a tingle of electricity was felt and the lightning ninja murmured in his sleep in response._

 _Wu had been adamant though, it had already been decided. The plans ironed out and rescheduled to mean that once the majority of ninja would be in the city and finding appropriate accommodations, Misako would be taking Jay to the countryside._

* * *

Those four uneventful weeks had passed quickly, but not quickly enough for Cole. It was quiet, too quiet without Jay. Kai's incessant taunting had taken place of Jay's whining. Lloyd spent a good few hours training on the deck, Cole often joined him but they felt weaker as a team, as a whole. It felt wrong, like the spark was missing.

The informal meeting with Borg had gone as planned. It was just as Zane had deduced, Borg tower had indeed been infiltrated. It was only a matter of time before it would happen, considering these serpentine were many.

Zane had to hand it to them, the serpentine and their skills of assimilating into their immediate surroundings _was_ impressive, but despite that fact, it was also quite a scary prospect. The parts that had been found previously were now nowhere to be found, there were no clues, no trails at all. Everything had fallen silent like they were lying in wait for something spectacular to happen.

This led the team on a perilous mission to retrace their footsteps from a few weeks past. In a mad scramble to find any remaining clues left from that initial explosion, because without the device and without Borg's help they would never have all the answers needed.

This weapon was deadly, not just in the wrong hands but in general, it was a horrific device meant to control nindroids, if used on Zane it would have allowed him to fall into the enemies' hands. If it had hit Lloyd, _all_ of the ninja would have been defenceless; save for their spinjizu and martial arts training.

Wu had already mentioned that it could affect three of them. It now meant that whatever they did they had to be on their guard, always. Both Lloyd and Zane were keeping watch on board the Bounty with Sensei Wu overseeing the whole operation.

* * *

Lying in a dormant building on her belly, whilst looking out of a broken pane of glass was no fun for anyone, Nya knew that much. Although, she didn't much mind Misako's company, she found that the elder woman could be quite sharp and witty.

She grabbed her aqua vita and took a quick drink, "Beta team in place Lloyd, report."

Nya looked to her side and saw Misako. The elder woman was looking through her binoculars. She often found the elder to be very matriarchal and sometimes overly protective of Lloyd.

Cutting her some slack, she thought more about why she was often mollycoddling him. ' _Lloyd was a valuable member of the team, he beat the Overlord, mind you so did Zane_.'

"Stay in place for mission details,"

Nya smirked at Lloyd's enthusiasm and tried hard to stifle her laughter.

"We're not SWAT or STRIKE members, Lloyd." She shook her head, she could've sworn she saw Misako smile too.

A distorted crackle on the communicator was muffled by Nya, Lloyd had just sworn. "Now now, Lloyd, your mom is right next to me." She mumbled and looked back through her binoculars.

Coming in from a different angle, the outlands of Ninjago City were almost desolate and largely abandoned. "Besides, Lloyd…It's not like a have a Cheytac or AWSM is it? Not complaining really, be quite though handy to pick off any serpentine that even come within a 500-yard radius of this place."

"We're not soldiers Nya!" Lloyd mumbled again down the line.

"Yeah, yeah I know but a sniper rifle would be a better tool against the EMFG though!"

* * *

"Zane, Lloyd keep watch, we're going in now." Cole nodded and pocketed his small communicator.

"Nya, Misako stay out of sight, don't make a sound." Kai smiled in the direction he knew his sister to be in before following Cole with a hint of apprehension.

"Whatever happened to our call signs?" Nya groaned down her communicator.

The smallest crackle of a voice could be heard. "Team Alpha, all's clear from what we can see here. Hey uh Cole, no elements remember. Communicators if you need them, otherwise keep the lines clear." Cole recognised the voice as Lloyd's.

"Can't help but agree with Nya though, a side arm would be great against that device." Kai had mumbled.

Cole and Kai were standing outside the same derelict building. But it looked different, the windows were all boarded up and some heavy duty chains were bound around each emergency exit. "It feels too eerie, this doesn't feel right."

Kai bit his lip, he had to agree. Why spend some much money on the place if only to let it stand falling into disrepair build "They put a lot of effort into this place but why?"

"Because they were determined to break us apart, at a guess." Cole shrugged, it wasn't far from the truth or what he felt.

He motioned Kai over as he broke the chains, he pulled the doors open with ease. They both peered inside, taking a tentative step.

Once inside they both pulled their scarves up if anything it provided a mask for protecting from dust. Of course, it gave obscurity, no one had recognised them in all their years of being heroes of Ninjago and it was largely due to the flimsy piece of coloured fabric.

Upon closer inspection, they both noted that the purpose built facility had just been abandoned. Everything was covered in a thin smattering of dust. It had been left as it was from two weeks ago. The plants had wilted, the water in the vases had dried up, the chairs and tables in the reception were still overturned.

It was only because of some digging and research from Zane and Nya that they had found that this was once a factory that specialised in electronics. It made small-scale generators, mostly, and the odd circuit board. Before that, it seemed that the building was built above an underground foundry. The product they mined was vengestone, that explained the walls and the underlying fact that none of the trapped ninja could tap into their elements when they had been stuck there.

Zane had mentioned that the foundry soon closed when vengestone became harder to mine, instead they had moved onto mining for ore, which then required a bigger site and foundry.

Kai had called Cole across. Neither could really remember much of this building, they had only ever seen the reception. "It's an old style lift shaft, doesn't look like it goes down too far maybe a couple of floors no more."

He pulled open the accordion folded door and then the inner meshed metal doors before checking to see if the panel was up and running.

It wasn't, he frowned for a few seconds until Cole found the circuit breakers and pulled the lever, flipping the electricity switches. "Let's make this quick Kai, don't really want to be caught down here after last time."

He quickly joined Kai and reluctantly pulled the lift doors closed. With a shuddering groan, the lift finally started moving. It seemed to take forever and a day to actually move, typical really.

Zane would have mentioned something about it not being able to pick up enough speed in the pulley system to allow it to stop in time, therefore being the reason why it was taking so long.

It bounced off the walls a few times and Kai began to shudder as the darkness seemed to become more noticeable.

Both had been advised to bring torches, considering the place was still surrounded by vengestone blocks. Kai lit his first, holding it under his chin, trying his best to get a reaction out of Cole.

"Doofus, Kai, that's the sort of thing I'd expect to see from Jay." He sighed again, holding onto the side as the lift came to a shuddering halt.

"Wow, sudden!" Kai looked startled for a few moments then straightened up and recomposed himself hastily. "What? I don't like rickety old lifts okay!"

"I'm not saying anything," Cole smirked and flicked his torch on before even stepping foot into the pitch black room.

"Stay back to back Kai, can't be doing with losing each other down here."

"What is this place?" Kai shuddered, Cole felt it and it sent a cold feeling up his spine.

Cole shone his commander torch, activating the flicker setting. Zane had mentioned to him that the flicker setting would be beneficial for 'discombobulating' any potential serpentine. Apparently the flicker setting caused intense pain and confusion, it worked exceptionally well; even when it was shone into Kai's face by mistake.


	22. The lights are on but no one's home

"What can you see?"

"Not now Nya, I thought we were keeping these lines free?" Kai replied in a hushed voice.

The floor was covered in sand, making it difficult to get a good grip or to make a fast escape, to make matters worse, there were thick cables and drag marks on the sand. To Both ninja, their first thoughts were elongated desert snakes, not quite serpentine but deadly still the same.

"What happened to using our call signs?" She said in response. "We're Beta remember? No names!"

Kai couldn't tell if she was being serious or not, her tone sounded slightly serious. "Okay, Beta….I'll" He paused as Cole shone his torchlight around the room. "Get back to you on that."

Nya somehow noted her brothers change in voice. "Is everything okay? Do you need assistance?"

Kai just stared at the cables laying around, wondering what they must have been attached to, to warrant the use of such heavy gauge insulation. "Everything is fine unless you hear otherwise and no, we don't need assistance. Not yet anyway."

"Cole what is this stuff?" He asked as he joined his side.

"I'm not an electrician, Kai. But I'm fairly sure it is a power cable of some sort, heavy duty at that." Cole was standing in front of a cage, it had been knocked onto its side during the initial rush to get everything out of here.

Upon closer inspection, it proved to be insulated cable. Although Kai thought it looked more like a hose pipe. "It is a superconductor, a phenomena of no resistance," Zane stated quite clearly over his communication device.

"It is a purpose made underground cable that was meant for transferring the power from one central device to others."

"Thanks, Alpha, the only problem is these cables are the only thing in here, other than a weird looking contraption over there."

"Take a photo of it for me, if you can."

"Sure thing tinman, on it." He positioned his torch pointing directly at the fallen cage and proceeded to take some quick photos. "Not sure about the quality though, photos don't come out particularly good when it's otherwise pitch black."

"Cole, remember last time?" Kai asked as he held his torch, looking around keeping a watchful eye on the multitude of tunnels he could see.

The master of earth simply nodded.

"Well when we were underground, I guess they took us through one of these tunnels."

"Yeah and?"

"My signal gets weaker the closer I move to these." He pointed to the tunnels but stood far enough away to avoid being grabbed. "When we were taken, the signal from the communicator's were muffled, distorted."

"Why though? I mean, unless there is unmined vengestone down here or some other ore that disturbs the radio waves, we should have a perfect reception."

Kai's face looked solemn, it wasn't a memory he wanted either but yet there it was right in front of him. "Maybe it was something to do with his element, I mean we could still communicate fine until we got into that main cavern."

He had walked back across to the machine that lay on its side and took a look inside. He shuddered when he saw the leather restraints. "This was what they used huh? T-to take his element."

Cole nodded his dipped head, "Sick right?"

"Totally! So we'd be safer if we stay together?" Kai added as he stood back up again. "Heh, I'm guessing Jay would say we'd be pretty much hooped if we split up."

"We can't split up because it's too risky. I wasn't going to recommend that anyway, that'd be suicide unless you reckon we can take on the entire serpentine army by ourselves?" Cole replied with grin.

"Yeah, As tempting as it is, I'm gonna go for 'no' because I value my life as is. Plus I'm guessing here, but we'd need back up and only because this place was swarming with Serpentine not that long ago."

"Yeah, I for one don't wanna be their next plaything." Cole had moved on to the table he had stumbled into and he watched Kai from the corner of his eye.

The master of fire was peering down into some of the darkened tunnels. "Hey, you know we can't be long right?" He looked nervous as he shone the torchlight in favour of his own element. "These guys are crafty, they probably know we're here already."

Cole cleared the majority of useless dusty jars from the table top and shone his torch down onto some laminated sheets. He had no idea if these sheets were of any use but he rolled them up and secured them in his gi.

"I miss him, ya know. It's been so long Cole."

He bit his lip. "I miss him too, _more than he knows_ ," Cole said, trailing off at the end. "But he's some place better and right now that's all that matters. At the moment, Lloyd says that Jay is the weak link, the one that's easier to pick off and ultimately, the one that would weaken the entire mission."

"That's why Wu was so eager to have him stay away for so long?" Kai asked as he scoured the sandy floor for any other clues. He had a feeling that this was a complete wasted endeavour, that had so far produced a grand total of nothing, except for a multitude of tunnels that neither master wanted to explore without adequate backup.

Cole looked across to Kai, shining his torch in the fire master's general direction. "It was decided as being the best choice for his R&R. Who am I to argue with Wu?"

"Let me guess, did he do the whole spiel of 'with age comes wisdom, with time, comes patience and with solitude comes reflection and understanding?'" Kai asked.

Cole couldn't see his brothers' expression, it was too dark but he knew Kai was smiling as he spoke, largely in sympathy and understanding.

"Yeah, that was pretty much what he'd said before he decided, he didn't say it this time though." He had finished securing the laminated scrolls before looking into Kai's burning amber eyes. "I did question him and his reasoning, thought it would have been better if we all stayed together."

"Lloyd and Wu have a point though," Kai mumbled soothingly. "He can't fight in his current state."

"Yeah, I know that, it's just….." He paused and retrieved his device, he frowned as he heard Zane's voice barking orders at him. "Come again?" He frowned and pinched his nose as he listened in to Zane's orders.

"Delta team, two hostiles coming to your location. Two, I repeat two IC-9's."

"Gahh, speak English Zane, uhm Alpha, what the heck is _that_ new code?" He hissed, shooting a nervous glance at the elevator doors.

"I apologise…it means 'unknown ethnicity'. You have roughly seven minutes and 43 seconds to make a swift departure before your position will be compromised…Alpha team out."

"Come on Kai, time to go. Alpha, we're leaving now. Beta, keep your eyes peeled." He replied quietly.

Kai didn't need any further cues, he bolted straight for the open lift doors. "What were you going to say, Cole?" He said whilst pulling the old lift doors across when Cole had climbed into the rickety old elevator.

"Wu said that we should've never be separated. He virtually, rammed it down our throats when Jay was hurt the first time."

"Yeah, he did didn't he?" He pressed the dial up to G as the elevator began to tremble again. "I wonder what changed his course of thinking then?"

"Your guess is as good as mine Kai, just another one of his quirks I guess, plus I doubt we'll get a straight answer from him. He's kinda cryptic and vague at the best of times."

Both Ninja sighed a breath of relief when a natural light came back to their now straining eyes. The air was less stuffy up here, cooler too.

Kai noticed that his brother was holding something of importance, yet trying to get a purchase on what he was holding was proving a difficult task. "You're being really secretive Cole, what did you find? I know you got something." He tried to grab for them as the lift continued its slow ascent to the ground floor from the basement.

Cole didn't remove the scrolls, they were still securely rolled in his belt and he tightened his grip on them, effectively preventing Kai's hands from grabbing at them. "Quit it, Kai!"

"Well show me then!" He hissed petulantly.

"Later when we're out of here." He looked to Kai's fake pouting lips.

"Look, it's just something that could come in useful. I don't really know what they are or what they signify but I didn't want to leave empty handed." He smirked at Kai who literally had nothing.

"Case in point!" He pointed at Kai's bare hands and then cringed as the lift scratched up against the bare stone walls. The elevator wobbled and groaned again with the added momentum.

"I know we came here to find _any_ clues, it was a big ask really. It's like all the clues have dried up and left no trail at all. And what's worse is that these past few weeks haven't brought up anything either, until now…." His smile was as clear as the sun in the blue sky.

Kai looked at him in confusion, realisation suddenly dawning on him. "You did find something didn't you?"

Cole nodded, the grin still remained plastered onto his face. "I did, but you'll have to wait until we're safely away from here."

"Alpha team, Beta…status report?"

"All clear from Alpha. IC-9's have gone into a nearby food joint for refreshments. Misako is still keeping tabs on them."

"I swear to God, _Alpha_ , stop with the coding, it's not helping at all, _Zane!_ "

"Hey Cole lay off. We suggested that he use his humour switch today. Besides I think it's funny, Jay would've agreed with me."

" _That's debatable_ …." He said wryly, Kai remained silent as he opened the same fire doors they had entered through.

"What was that Cole?" Nya mumbled sarcastically.

"I mean yeah, sure Jay would have laughed….. _Beta!"_ He shook his head, she was right of course, Jay would have laughed and likely given away their position in a matter of seconds. _"Delta_ out…literally."

"Next time…" Cole said sounding gruff. "We're being team Alpha, being that we're doing all the damned work."

Kai nodded in agreement and both of them closed the doors behind them, placing a dumpster in front of the now unsecured access doors. "Whose idea was it?"

"Lloyd's idea!" Cole smiled. "Who else still has a supply of comics under his bed?"

Kai had no answer to that, he shrugged in response.

Cole tapped his device. "Mission was a success guys, meet you back at rendezvous point X in t-minus 10. We got some good news for a change."


	23. Secret's out

Typically, he wasn't on time, when was he ever?

He had just rolled up casually, pulling into a backstreet then reversing the rest of the way in. Whistling to himself, ignorant to his surroundings and completely unrecognisable at first. The dishevelled looking skilled thief and bounty hunter had pulled up in a 'Master Chen's' noodle van. But he hadn't acquired the relevant attire of a delivery man. No, he'd chosen to retain his usual clothing choice. Complete with unshaven appearance, cybernetic digital eye-patch and his trademark green militaristic armour.

The rugged eye patch wearing scoundrel had been on hand to relieve them of their heavy duty firearms. This was upon meeting up at the pre-arranged check point after their rogue mission to find answers. The same mission they had no choice to go on because somehow Borg Industries had lost those all important fragments, the ones they'd painstakingly looked for initially when Jay had been wired up to a respirator.

* * *

They only recognised that it was him when he lifted his straw hat to observe them all.

No words, just an unhealthy amount of cash was exchanged. And the obligatory smug grin that Ronin was well known for was being revealed as he leaned backwards against the van, counting said cash.

Now back in the relative safety of the Destiny's Bounty, the ninja had all mostly relinquished their weaponry to the rogue otherwise known as Ronin. All except for Cole. The master of earth had kept his carbon kevlar vest, he wasn't so sure that Ronin would notice it missing considering he didn't count the items that were put back in the truck, and if anything they could use the extra protection knowing that one of the serpentine generals had their own illegally owned crude style gun.

"So-" Kai edged ever closer to Cole's side when they'd finally made it back to the Bounty's control room. Now $400 lighter as a team thanks to Ronin, "What did you find?"

The eagerness in Kai's body language was almost on par with Jay's and it made Cole's heart ache a little that his best friend wasn't here to join in with the potentially momentous find.

Regardless of Jay's absence, Cole's wicked grin had widened. He cast a sideways glance to his brother of fire and began to unfurl the laminated scrolls, "This, this is what I found." He unfurled the large rolled up sheets. He proceeded to hold down each relevant corner with a suitable paperweight. Cole didn't really know what it was either but the excitement was still apparent that he'd actually found something and Kai hadn't. It was always a game of one-upmanship between Kai, Cole and Jay.

Kai, still none the wiser, looked at them in confusion, "What is it, I mean other than just finely detailed drawings?" He asked, placing the other paperweights to secure the previously rolled up drawings. "Does it bare any relevance to to _the_ broken device?"

Cole shrugged his shoulders. He knew he'd found something of huge importance. It was a massive clue as to what the serpentine were planning or were still in the processes of planning.

The master of earth was just about to answer, even though possibly incorrectly, until Zane's voice cut in. "Strangely enough Kai, it does not!" The nindroid concluded as he leaned in over the drawings, examining them closely. "Not directly anyway."

The metallic nindroid ran the blue prints through his CPU, to see if he could match it with any stored images of similar devices. Namely, the one that had been previously used on Jay. The one that was meant for him.

"These blueprints, " he said, with a grim expression, "These are new devices. Well, I mean that they would have been prototypes based of these drawings anyway." He paused and cocked his head again. "However, if they have built them then I am assuming that..."

"That _what_?" Kai cut in with the impertinence of youth.

Unperturbed by Kai's impatience, Zane continued to analyse. He could only assume that they hadn't tested the devices on any areas of humanoid population because there had been no news reports on disturbances since they'd travelled back to the city. In fact, the only reports they'd heard in relation to disturbances had turned out to be nothing but rumours. Rumours that would likely spread the same amount of panic that had been seen when Jay took one for the team. These newfound rumours were to get the local population into some sort of mild panic.

Zane feared that it was just what the serpentine wanted, to get the ninja out in the open again.

He kept that sombre thought inside and instead brought himself back to the present. Thinking back to what Kai had asked of him, "Kai, they have not tested them yet," Zane said monotonously without even lifting his head to stare into Kai's impatient glaring eyes, "They have not had an opportunity to test them, as yet."

"Wait did you say _them_? Exactly how many devices are we talking about here?" Cole asked nervously, scratching his head.

The remaining ninja looked on. Watching Zane as he worked effortlessly to skim through the two blueprints. "There are three devices, judging by these." He said, pointing to each detailed picture before him. "And, I have a reason to believe that these devices are similar to the one that was meant for me, yet used on our brother, Jay."

Cole tensed at the use of his brothers name.

He hadn't seen Jay for over a month now. It felt like he was on some extended vacation. Technically he was, and today was one of those days that Misako and Wu had gone to visit him. Cole had wanted to go to, but by the time that they all got back, Wu and Misako had been firm and had stated that only two of them could go.

"You think we could go and pay him a visit?" Lloyd piped up from the back, "I mean it's been what, 5 weeks now?"

Cole shook his head, "Sorry green machine, no can do! Sensei was adamant that we stay here, nearest to the city in the event that if something kicks off we'll be on hand to tackle it."

Secretly he was impressed that it wasn't just him thinking of Jay, it was evident that Lloyd was missing him too. "I sent him a letter a few weeks ago plus Sensei took the one I'd written yesterday. You're more than welcome to send one, ya know. I'm sure he'd love to hear from all of you."

" I am sorry to disturb your moment of tranquillity, but..." Zane stated, "These devices look like they may be related to earth, fire and ice."

All three elemental masters looked on in shock. And all three in unison hurried back to Zane's side.

"See here?" Zane asked as he pointed to one half of the blueprint, "This device here is capable of removing or at least altering the metabolic rate of someone who utilises extremes of heat or cold."

"This one," He said pointing to another, "This could potentially have some elements of refined vengestone within the powered core." He looked at Cole, "Vengestone is a natural mineral that is found in the earth's crust."

Cole had turned to face Zane, a deadly serious expression on his face, "I know about vengestone. So, what you're saying is that we're all being targeted now?"

Zane nodded, "I am, that is exactly what I mean to say. The evidence here proves itself of that fact."

"These are just drawings, you thing they've already made them?" Kai queried, narrowing his gaze on the blue laminated sheets before him.

Cole shook his head, standing forwards, "We need to do plan something, something big. Preferably, before they can attempt anything that involves loss of civilian life."


End file.
